


An Unchaste Affair: Part Two

by JustMosie



Series: An Unchaste Affair [2]
Category: The Mentalist
Genre: An Unchaste Affair, F/M, affair
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2012-08-18
Updated: 2013-04-08
Packaged: 2017-11-12 09:22:18
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 29,031
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/489300
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JustMosie/pseuds/JustMosie
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After the deaths of his wife and child, Patrick Jane disappeared without a trace. Now four and a half years later he returns to the CBI in hopes of finding the man that ruined his life, but he quickly discovers that his hunt for Red John is going to be no easy feat. Especially when new and old distractions come into his life.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter One

Chapter One

_Death, in general, shakes an individual to the very core. It throws even the very best off equilibrium._

**December 20 & 23, 2007**

Slamming the car door shut, Lisbon turned around to face the man who rear-ended her. The man, clad in an expensive business suit, glanced down and grimaced at the sight of Lisbon's bumper underneath his. And the coffee stain adorning the front of her shirt, following downward to the badge clipped to her hip.

With a sigh, Lisbon brushed a few stray locks out of her face and surveyed the damage herself. Rotating her slightly sore neck and looking up to glare at the hotshot, she went back into her car to grab a piece of paper and pen.

"Look, Officer, I don't have time for this."

Leaning into her car and pressing the paper down, she looked over at the man. "Can I please have your information, sir?"

"Officer…."

"Can you please tell me your insurance provider, sir? I'm running late for work too."

The man drew his lips into a thin line and crossed his arms over his chest. In a grumbling manner, he informed her of his provider as well as his multiple phone numbers. She thought she might have to pull out her Taser when she had asked him for his driver's license, but was relieved when he reigned in his obvious anger and slapped the identification down on the roof of her car.

After she was done getting his information, she folded up the paper and stuck in her pants pocket. She then turned to him to give her information, and she was almost certain that he momentarily blanched when she informed him that she was an agent rather than an officer.

"Thank you, Mister Waters," she said as she went back into her car.

In totality, she was a little under forty-five minutes late for work. The only one who seemed to know this was Cho, as Rigsby was still busy fumbling around in the kitchenette for his coffee and breakfast sandwich that he had most likely gotten from a fast-food chain.

Agent Roderick Martin died in October of a vicious stab wound. Simmons had witnessed it happen and called the paramedics. The late senior agent had survived until they were about to wheel him into surgery to repair the damage down by the knife, but found they were too late right before they were to administer the anaesthesia. Agent Simmons was slated to become the next senior agent, but he refused and found himself transferring to New York. This left Lisbon or a new agent being transferred in. Minelli saw it fit to give Lisbon a promotion, as she had been working at the CBI for a little over five years.

The next day after she had accepted her promotion, Lisbon had found a large stack of files on her desk. Of course, she had to pick out two new team members. It couldn't be just her and Cho fighting crime alone. After about a week of looking through countless impressive resumes, she decided on one Wayne Rigsby. Sure, his father had been a member of a biker gang, but she saw absolutely no fault in that. Her father had been a drunk. She was certain that Rigsby was a good man.

After delivering her paperwork to Minelli, he then asked her about her second selection. She informed him that she had made no such selection and would like to see how her team could just consist of Cho and Rigsby at the moment. Minelli didn't see any reason in this, but decided that he trusts his new senior agent for a reason and therefore he ought to let her have her way.

To this day, over a month since Rigsby's hiring, Lisbon does not regret her decision once. Even with a slightly rocky start, Cho and Rigsby get along quite well. It took Rigsby awhile to adjust to Cho's dry sense of humour. Now, all she had to wait for was the chance for her team to enhance their ability to close cases accordingly. That was something that had been haunting the serious crimes unit for a while now, and there had been several meetings addressing the issue. And all those meetings surely didn't help Lisbon's ability to sleep.

Well, despite that annoying hiccup of being late, Lisbon stowed away her briefcase and plopped herself down in her swivel chair. She turned on her computer, logged in (took two tries this time), and checked her email. There was the usual spam and newsletters, but nothing new since she had checked it right before she left from the apartment. So, with a sigh, she set to work on some of the paperwork that she had left over from the last case.

Around ten in the morning, Lisbon felt a distinct prickle down the length of her spine. Looking up, her gaze searched through the windows of any sign of anyone watching her. She had told Rigsby more than once to leave her alone since his hiring. Five minutes later, she still felt the eyes on her and she decided to leave the confines of her office to investigate. Walking past the bullpen, she glanced in to see Cho in the middle of writing something down in a file and Rigsby taking the photographs off the bulletin board. Neither men had been watching her.

Glancing around, Lisbon decided that it would be best for her to get a cup of coffee. She had not been able to get a replacement after it had been spilled all over her front – thank goodness for spare clothes – and thought it would be good to get that cup in now rather than later.

After she had poured her coffee and put in the sugar, Lisbon leaned back against the countertop as she slowly stirred. There were certain times when Lisbon felt reminiscent…and she felt like this was one of those times. Setting the stirrer-stick in the sink, Lisbon took a sip of her coffee. It was lukewarm, but that was okay at the moment.

In the last four and a half years, a lot had changed. Alone, her being senior agent should testify to that fact, but for her personally…a lot had changed.

Taking another sip of her coffee, Lisbon rolled her eyes when she heard some of the chatty assistants come towards the kitchenette. For some odd reason, they didn't like to use the little kitchenettes on their own floors. They argued that the refrigerator didn't work as well as the one that belonged to the serious crimes unit.

"Did you see White's new consultant?"

"…his smile!"

"I hear he makes White miserable! White wants him gone…"

Lisbon rolled her eyes again. Of course, they would bring the gossip down to serious crimes. Especially when it had to do with White, another senior agent from the floor below that mostly dealt with narcotics. He was a good man, that Agent White. Had a nice family.

"…White is the second agent to take him on in the CBI!"

"…And before that, he was with Sac PD…"

"Such a charming man…"

"White wants him gone!"

Snorting into her coffee, Lisbon deduced that this consultant was either a charlatan or criminal. Or both, for that matter. She also decided that he would only last two or three more days, knowing how little most consultants stayed with the CBI. It would be less if he were a civilian consultant.

"Something funny, Agent Lisbon?"

Missy Nolan, the "matriarch" of the group of chatty assistants, crossed her arms over her well-endowed chest as she looked over at Lisbon. She also worked for Agent White, which is why the majority of this gossip was coming from her mouth.

Shaking her head, Lisbon lifted the cup to her mouth again. "Not at all, Miss Nolan."

~O~

He was not too fond of Missy Nolan. A large-breasted and tall woman of thirty dressed in revealing clothing whilst working around men gave him a slightly bad taste in his mouth. On his second day, Missy had tried to seduce him with her hooded hazel eyes (though, she wore contacts to make them blue) and lingering touches on his shoulder. He remained polite to Missy, not wanting to upset her in any way shape or form unless she insulted him.

So, to get away from Missy on his third day, he had journeyed down to the serious crimes unit. A few years ago he had spent a lot of time down on that floor, and still to this day did it bring him comfort. Originally, he had wanted to work with the serious crimes for two reasons. One, he liked this unit. Two, they had the Red John case. But Minelli refused to allow him to work with this unit, saying that the lead agent was still new.

A little before ten o'clock in the morning, Jane found himself standing before the lead agent's door. He was shocked, only a little, to see the words "TERESA LISBON" clearly written on the door. But the more that he thought about it, the more he decided that it was logical. Lisbon had been working with the CBI for a long time and no doubt earned herself (and the Bureau) much publicity.

He had retreated back, knowing that she may not receive his presence too well. He had leaned against the wall, eyes trained on her, as she worked meticulously. Lisbon had paused for a moment to look up and around, so he shrank into the shadows a little bit. Then was when he noticed the slight change in her. Well, yes, she was obviously older now. More worn than when he had previously seen her, but now her hair was cropped short and not even touching her shoulders.

When she had gotten up, his eye continued to follow her as she left her office. Predictably, she meandered her way into the little kitchenette area where she started to prepare another cup of coffee. Maybe that was the reason why she was rather short, he mused to himself briefly.

He observed her as she leaned against the counter, occasionally taking sips of her coffee. She seemed to be mulling over her thoughts, not entirely uncommon, as she was a senior agent now. She had a lot to think about nowadays, he assumed.

_"Did you see White's new consultant?"_

_"…his smile!"_

_"I hear he makes White miserable!"_

Jane rolled his eyes in annoyance when he heard the familiar voices of Missy Nolan and her fellow assistants carry over to where he stood. Really, he had come down to the serious crimes to get away from them. But alas, that did not seem to be in the books for him. Though, when he saw Lisbon roll her eyes at the women, Jane found himself smirking.

_"…White is the second agent to take him on in the CBI!"_

_"…And before that, he was with Sac PD…"_

_"Such a charming man…"_

_"White wants him gone! There's a meeting…"_

Lisbon seemed to make a face, somewhat of discomfort into her coffee. Jane could only assume that she was tired of listening to their conversation and wished for them to take it elsewhere.

He watched as Missy Nolan turned to Lisbon, her arms crossing over her supple chest…he was still male, of course. The assistant seemed to be trying to intimidate Lisbon by attempting to make her larger height noted to the agent. Lisbon did not look a bit bothered by that.

_"Something funny, Agent Lisbon?"_

Lisbon shook her head and took another sip of her coffee. _"Not at all, Miss Nolan."_

Missy Nolan did not move, but narrowed her eyes even further than before. Jane could easily tell from the distance that neither woman liked the other. This became especially evident when Missy reared back and smirked at the more petite woman.

"Will you be attending the meeting, Agent Lisbon?"

Jane noticed Lisbon's expression falter briefly, knowing that she had not heard anything about a meeting. Well, this confirmed Jane's past thoughts that Minelli had been keeping his presence from her, and she from him.

_"Meeting? What meeting?"_

_"The one concerning Patrick Jane, of course! White's consultant, you know."_

Lisbon's expression blanched and her grip became notably tighter around her coffee mug. Jane watched Lisbon excuse herself from the kitchenette, not caring that Missy and her fellow assistants were all smiling at the agent's obvious discomfort. They did not know that Jane had been a consultant previously, but they knew that Lisbon had been outside of the loop for a while now.

She was now heading for Minelli's office, no doubt to interrogate him about what she had just discovered. Jane found it prudent that he eavesdrop on their conversation, to know what exactly Minelli tells her and what she makes of the situation.

Lisbon paused outside her superior's office and took a moment to take a deep breath and straighten her shirt. Once she entered the room, Jane crept closer and stood and against the wall, pressing as close as he could to it.

~O~

When Lisbon moved through the door, Minelli looked up from his computer at the sudden entrance of his newest senior agent. As soon as the door closed behind her, Lisbon diverted her eyes to the closest wall before moving them back to her superior. She felt betrayed, in a sense that he hadn't told her that Patrick Jane had returned to the CBI.

"Lisbon." There was no questioning the surprise in Minelli's voice.

She took another deep breath. "Why didn't you tell me?"

Watching Minelli's facial features go from surprise to guilt was enough to know that he understood. With a resigned sigh, Minelli shifted a bit in his swivel chair so that he faced Lisbon completely.

"Lisbon," he began, "I kept his presence from you because all he wants with the CBI is to use our resources to find and kill notorious serial killer, Red John."

Lisbon blinked. "But my team has Red John, sir."

Nodding, once more in resignation, Minelli drew his lips into a thin line. "He knows that the serious crimes unit has the Red John case, yes."

There was a pregnant pause where no one said anything.

"But he doesn't know I'm in charge, does he." It wasn't a question, for Lisbon was quite certain that Minelli had left that detail out when Jane had started working for the CBI. If he had kept information from her, she was sure that he had kept information from Jane.

Minelli sighed and leaned forward to massage his temples. "No, no Jane doesn't know that you have your own team now." His gaze softening, Minelli leaned back in his chair. "Teresa, I know that you two—."

Before Minelli could say the remainder of his sentence, the door was pushed open with such a force that could only mean that someone was on a quest of sorts. Turning around, Lisbon saw Agent White barrelling into the room.

"I want him gone, Minelli."

Taking a deep breath and rolling her eyes, Lisbon was quite certain that…he was talking about Jane. The man did have a notorious tendency to annoy the hell out of people. Especially his superiors.

"Agent White, I assure you—."

"He has no regard for the rules I lay down for him and he frequently reads into my team's personal backgrounds! I want him gone from my team!"

Lisbon diverted her eyes to the ceiling when she heard Minelli sigh and begin to speak. "I'll draw up the paperwork and change the topic of discussion for this afternoon's meeting. Lisbon, would you please excuse us?"

Her gaze fell on her superior and colleague. Without taking another moment, Lisbon nodded and left the office. Her thoughts were, ridiculously, overwhelmed with memories (and worry) about Patrick Jane. Something she wasn't too overly fond of.

Just as she was about to begin walking away from Minelli's office, she heard the sound of someone clearing their throat a few steps away from her. Stiffening, Lisbon slowly turned to face them and once more found her face blanching at the sight of the blond man before her.

"Patrick…" she whispered, not entirely sure of what to say.

Jane smiled. "Hello, Teresa."

His smile had ignited something inside of her. Fortunately, nothing of the happy sort, for she would want to shoot herself in the foot for that. Instead, she felt angry that he had the audacity to waltz back into the CBI and merely tell her hello.

"Y-you." She curled her fingers into her palm and fought the urge to punch him in the nose. "What the hell are you doing here, Jane!"

Rearing back, slightly, as if she had hit him, his smile stayed the same. Annoyingly so, if she may add.

"I returned to help the police, of course."

Lisbon shook her head, fighting the urge to laugh dryly at him. "No, you came back because of Red John."

Seeing that he didn't falter, which was concerning, Lisbon stiffened. "What are your plans, Jane?" she asked him softly.

Almost playfully, he cocked his head to the side. "Plans?"

"Red John."

Jane made a sort of "aha" face when he took a slight step back and rubbed his palms against the fabric of his waistcoat. "Ah. And what makes you think I have 'plans' for Red John?"

Crossing her arms over her chest, Lisbon quirked an eyebrow up. "Jane, I see spouses wish to avenge the deaths of their loved ones almost every single day. What makes you so different?"

The smile that was on Jane's face began to falter in appearance. His eyes, however, had surely lost the gleeful gleam that he had been sporting only a few short moments ago. Yes, she had definitely hit a nerve when mentioning his motivations towards Red John.

Casually sliding his hands into his jacket pockets, Jane smiled. It was the kind of grin that set off all warning bells within Lisbon's mind, reminding her that Jane was capable of doing…questionable things.

He leaned in close to her, his breath tickling her ear. "You will figure it out, I'm sure."

Glaring at him, Lisbon held her ground and refused to fall for his charm. There was a sense of mild disappointment present in his eyes when he pulled away from her. Drawing her lips into a thin line, she sidestepped him and walked away. As she walked back down towards her office, her mind couldn't help but wonder where he had been all this time.

After Charlotte and Angela were killed, the media had exploded. Everywhere were periodicals concerning the Jane family and Red John. Not only had Jane's already superfluous amount of fame received a huge boost, but Red John as well. Well, the explosion was more so caused by Jane's impromptu disappearance. For three months after he up and left, the media was buzzing with excitement. Some would even go as far as accusing Jane or saying that he had committed suicide.

Lisbon was almost sure he hadn't committed suicide. The narcissist.

With a heavy sigh, Lisbon plopped herself down in her office chair and swivelled around to pull up her email. Seeing nothing new, she leaned forward and began to massage her temples and fighting the tears from forming in her eyes.

~O~

Jane was about to walk back away when Agent White angrily walked out of Minelli's office. He exchanged one lingering glance at his consultant, giving Jane the idea that he had just lost his consultation job again, and walked off. Honestly, Jane had never really liked White. He was kind of an annoying little worm.

It was not as if Jane wanted to get fired, he just did not get along well with any of the senior agents that Minelli had made him sign a contract with. Also, the supervisor refused to allow Jane to work with the serious crimes. Now he knew why.

Drawing his lips into a thin line, Jane began to walk in the direction towards the elevator when he heard someone clear their throat behind him, similar to what he had done to Lisbon earlier. Pausing, Jane turned around to the sight of Minelli standing behind him, hands pressed to his sides. He looked very worn out today.

"Virgil, how may I help you?" Jane asked, trying to seem cordial rather than slightly perturbed that he had neglected to inform him that Teresa Lisbon still worked in the building.

Minelli, however, did not appear to be so cordial. "Come inside my office, Jane. We need to discuss a few things."

Nodding and glancing over his shoulder, no one around, Jane walked through the open door and into his direct superior's office. The older man gestured for Jane to sit in the chair opposite his desk, to which Jane complied with. After all, Minelli did not appear to want to act cordial this morning.

Minelli sat across from Jane and leaned forward, clasping his hands together in front of him on the desk. "You no longer report to Agent White." Jane nodded, knowing this much from how the man _rudely_ acted as he left this very office. "You are to collect your things and leave this building until further notice."

Jane nodded again, knowing the drill. "And lastly, whatever you are here for, I want you to stay away from Lisbon," Minelli continued.

There was a dangerous, paternal of a sort type of glint in Minelli's eyes. This caused Jane's interest to instantly hone in one as to why the man would say such a thing. Yes, he was vey assured that Lisbon had been upset when he left abruptly from the cemetery. Leaving in that fashion is not something he is proud of.

"She looks good," Jane started, "a little worn around the edges, but good nonetheless…."

Minelli's gaze sharpened and he licked his lower lip as if to think about what he were about to say. Hunching his shoulders forward, opening his mouth, Minelli was about to speak when he seemed to catch himself on something. His eyes widened, barely, and he tried to make a smooth recovery.

Well, it would have been smooth if a gullible mark were before him. Jane did not count himself as a gullible mark, therefore he knew Minelli was hiding something about Lisbon.

"I repeat. Stay away from her, Jane, it wouldn't be good for her for you to be in her life again."

Jane leaned against his chair, raising an eyebrow and knowing what he was about to ask was completely false. "She's not married, is she?"

Minelli shook his head quickly. "No, no she's not married. A lot has happened since you were gone, Jane."

Searching his employer's gaze, Jane watched as the older man leaned forward and began to massage his temples as if he were fighting a migraine. He probably was, actually. He, Patrick Jane, was once more bouncing to another senior agent (if he would be taken in), he and Lisbon had found out about each other, and he was also hiding something.

"You're dismissed," Minelli told him.

Nodding, Jane stood from his chair and left the office. He would pay the serious crimes floor one last visit before he would head to White's designated bullpen and collect his things. After that, he would head back to his motel and spend the remainder of the day watching documentaries on Animal Planet.

~O~

It was pushing five o'clock in the afternoon, two days before Christmas too, when Lisbon pushed her lukewarm coffee away and leaned on the table before her. Murder cases around the any holiday always sucked the cheer out of the air and brought on a cornucopia of stress to her being. Add that onto paying the bills and having Patrick Jane waltz in out of nowhere made Lisbon want to pull her hair out.

The case of the week, so to speak, was one of the sad variety. A young and wealthy man, Tom Blythe, had been leaving a jewellery store with a newly purchased engagement ring in his pocket. He had wanted to surprise his girlfriend on Christmas morning. When he was passing by an alleyway, high with so much Christmas glee, he was grabbed, roughed up, mugged, and murdered. The Blythe family had asked Minelli specifically for his serious crimes unit to work this case.

And now, after two days, Lisbon just wanted to set the case files alight and watch them burn atop the roof of the CBI. She really wanted to have this case solved before Christmas Eve.

Lisbon briefly considered calling either Rigsby or Cho in, but decided against it. Cho was visiting some relatives in Oakland and Rigsby was spending some time with his girlfriend in Los Angeles. Envying them just a little, Lisbon reached forward and took a sip of her lukewarm coffee.

"Mind if I have a look at that?"

Looking up, coffee mug still pressed to her lips, Lisbon narrowed her eyes. Jane stood in the doorway, leaning against the frame. A visitor's badge was clipped to the lapel of his jacket. He was smiling a little.

She set the piece of porcelain down and took a deep breath. She wanted to get home. Correction, she had to get home. So, she nodded in confirmation.

Jane pushed off of the doorframe and came to sit opposite her. Slowly, he reached forward and took hold of the paperwork and started to read over it.

"He was strangled?" Jane raised an eyebrow.

Nodding, Lisbon fiddled with the mug in front of her. "Yeah, he was ambushed, beaten, mugged, and strangled."

Jane seemed to briefly take this into consideration when he flipped through the rest of the papers. After about nineteen minutes of this, he set them down and looked up at Lisbon.

"Is there any tea here?"

She raised an eyebrow. "Tea?"

"Yes, they sometimes sell them in individual bags…."

"I know what tea is!" she snapped.

Jane leaned back into his seat and smiled. "Well, then I would love a cup. Would you care for one, Lisbon?"

Lisbon watched as Jane stand and walk out of the bullpen. Curious, she followed him into the kitchenette, where he began to open and close several cupboard doors in search of some sort of tea. Finding some, he pulled the box down and set to work on the electric kettle ("What a marvel in technology!").

He got down two cups and their respective plates of different sizes. The first was white with little green leaves decorated beautifully. The second was small and bright blue.

Setting the little blue one before Lisbon, Jane poured in a little bit of milk then sugar before adding the boiling water. He stirred and pushed it towards her before starting to work one his own.

As she waited for it to cool, she sat down across from where he was standing. "Do you have anything to say about the case?"

"The case?"

"Yes, Jane, the case."

He sat down in his chair and picked up his teacup, blowing on it and watching as the steam rose in spirals. "Tom's brother, James, did it."

Glaring at him, Lisbon leaned back in her chair and crossed her arms over her chest. "How did you come up with that one?"

Jane set his teacup on the little plate. "Let me ask you this, Lisbon. If you were to mug someone." She began to protest. "Wouldn't you bring some sort of weapon with you? All of Tom's injuries were caused by someone hitting him with his fist followed by strangling him and maintaining eye contact. Not really your average mugging."

Lisbon was about to protest, but Jane set his tea down and held up a hand. "James had cuts and bruises on his hands, did he not?"

"Yes. He's a boxer."

"Ah, the perfect alibi."

"Jane, we checked it out. James was with some of his friends that night."

Giving her a brief smile, Jane picked up the teacup again and took another sip. "Have it your way, then," he told her.

Without saying anything else, Jane stood; cup and plate still in hand, and walked away. Lisbon watched him go until he left her sight before she wandered back into the bullpen to re-examine the case files. Ten minutes later, she made the decision to test out Jane's theory and interrogate the brother, James Blythe.

James Blythe resembled his late brother very closely. They had the same hair and eye colour, their skin only a bit off from each other's. The facial features were uncanny. James had invited Lisbon inside, offering her a cup of coffee at this late hour and asked her about how the case was going. She declined the cup of coffee.

"We're still investigating a few leads at present, Mister Blythe," she said.

Nodding, James sat down on the couch farthest away from her and stirred his cup of coffee slowly, his eyes downcast.

"Where were you two nights ago when the murder occurred?" Lisbon asked, notepad and pen in hand.

James looked up from his coffee mug, knuckles turning white as they clasped on tightly to the porcelain. "I-I was at the ring training, Agent Lisbon. Carl and Henry told your agents that."

Ah, Carl and Henry. She remembered that Rigsby didn't like either of them, but that wasn't enough to hold against them.

Cocking her head to the side, Lisbon couldn't help but notice the sweat beading at James's temples. Soon, the sweat droplets began to roll down the length of his head and drip into his shirt collar. The man was nervous; it didn't take someone telepathic to notice this.

Lisbon nodded and scribbled down a few more notes on the paper before looking up again. "Your brother was beaten and strangled, Mister Blythe." She watched as the man blanched and started to shake. "There was no evidence of a weapon used on your brother, and with your training I'm sure you can easily take him."

James quickly stood to his feet, the coffee knocking over and shattering onto the tile floor. Lisbon looked over her notepad at the brown fluid seeping into the cracks and stood.

"Put your hands behind your head," she told him.

With a gulp, James shakily put bruised hands behind his head. Eyeing him closely, Lisbon slowly made her way to him, putting down her notepad on the table. She reached behind to pull out her handcuffs, and as she drew closer to the suspect so she could cuff him, the man quickly lunged for her.

Immediately, Lisbon took a step back in an attempt to get away from him, but James was too fast. His hand grabbed her neck and squeezed down on her windpipe. Instinctively, Lisbon dropped her handcuffs to the ground and opened her mouth to gasp for air. Her hands began to claw at James's hands, failing to get any sort of reaction from him other than murderous rage.

"I will not go down for this," he said in a dangerous tone.

Lisbon began to see black spots clouding her vision as she fought herself to maintain a level head. She began to scan her thoughts, take inventory of what all she had on her person, until her thoughts landed on her Taser.

Clumsily, Lisbon reached back and pulled out the weapon and pressed it against James's upper hip. The man loosened his grip briefly to look down, and before he could do anything else, Lisbon pressed the switch down.

He dropped her to the floor and fell to the ground. James's body continued to convulse as the electric shocks still moved throughout his body. Lisbon tried to lean against the couch as she fumbled for her cell phone. Finding it, she flipped it open and dialled for backup and an ambulance.

Heart beating wildly, Lisbon felt the cell phone fall from her grasp and clatter to the floor. She tried to breathe, but found it difficult. Trying to take a deep breath, she swallowed in hopes that it would help. Instead she jerked weakly and as sharp pains hit her throat. The black spots continued to float around in her vision and soon she felt the darkness grow bigger and bigger. She tried to push it away, all that blackness. But it soon engulfed her and she felt nothing.

~O~

After he had all but given Lisbon the murderer on a silver platter, Jane had walked back up to the attic. Since his return to CBI, he had only been up here twice. The first was the day he started his consultation with Agent Finn, and the second was when he tired to stay away from Missy Nolan. Honestly, he would have come up here more than he had been, but the place was so dusty. It was obvious that it had not been tended to in a long time.

He finished up his tea and set the cup aside to gaze out the window. Shifting his stance, he shrugged the sleeve of his jacket down so he could rub away some of the dust and grime to make it easier for him to see outside. With a small smile, he leaned against the small, rickety desk and watched as a plane flew by overhead.

Taking in a deep breath, he sighed. After the Holiday Season he would go back to Minelli and negotiate a way back into the CBI. Preferably, he would be placed on Lisbon's team, but he was certain that Minelli would put him elsewhere. The older man had been very protective of her and wished for him not to know something concerning her. That, or his abrupt departure had affected Lisbon in a way he had not foreseen.

Shaking his head at those thoughts, Jane decided to walk back down towards the kitchenette. Once down, Lisbon was nowhere in sight. Her blue teacup lie atop its saucer on one of the café table, it was no doubt lukewarm by now.

Cleaning up her tea, Jane looked down at the blue teacup and traced his fingers over the porcelain. There was a slight scratch in the side. The human eye could not see it, but it could most certainly be felt with his thumb. Smiling, he poured out the tea and washed out the cup. He then set it aside to dry.

Some movement caught his peripheral, and he turned to see Lisbon walking towards the elevators and shrugging on her jacket. She was checking up on the lead that he had helped her with. She ought not go alone, the Blythe brother being a boxer and all. So, Jane decided that he would wait a good twenty or so minutes before he would call Minelli.

~O~

She jiggled the keys in her hand as she walked up the stairs leading to her apartment. Her body ached and all she really wanted to do was take a hot bath and go to sleep. She could almost smell the deliciously clean bubbles now.

Minelli wasn't too happy with her, as she went in without backup. He insisted on her being checked out by the paramedics before she was to go home. She actually debated driving above the speed limit in order to return her CBI issue sedan back to pick up her Mustang.

Unlocking the door to her apartment, she pushed open the slightly stubborn door and tossed the keys onto the kitchen table nearby. She placed her hands on the lapels of her jacket and was about to start shrugging it off as she surveyed the room. Yes, everything was still in order after a mildly chaotic day. The fake Christmas tree still stood proudly in the corner, creatively decorated and with presents littered underneath it in bright paper. The light near the couch was lit, and a plump elderly woman sat at the end with a book in her hands.

The woman was in her mid-seventies, her hair short and grey. Her aged face was downcast as she turned a page in her book. Lisbon cleared her throat, causing the older woman to glance up.

"She's already asleep, Teresa," Barbara Norris said from her position on the couch. "Finally convinced her an hour ago."

Nodding, Lisbon proceeded to shrug off her jacket and hang it up. "Was she good today?"

Barbara nodded and stood, stretching her back and groaning a little as a knot apparently made its way into the middle of it. "She was good. Ate everything I set in front of her, played nicely at the park, and took a bath when I asked."

"But she didn't go to sleep when you asked her to," Lisbon deadpanned, knowing the answer to that already.

Shrugging and starting to gather her things, the elderly woman took a brief moment to glance up. "She was worried about her mother." Lisbon's gaze softened. "Ever since Cooper Downs's father died, she's been worried about you."

Cooper Downs frequently played in the very same park that Rosie liked to play in, and the two would often play on the slide together. The two children liked to talk about how both of their parents were police officers, and ever since Cooper's father died in the line of duty, Rosie always wanted to be awake when her mother got home. With her work hours, sometimes that wasn't possible. And she was just grateful that Barbara was willing to stay over until she was to come home.

Lisbon smiled. "Thank you, Barbara." The older woman simply waved her off, as if telling her that it was nothing. "I mean it."

"Teresa, I had been alone for fifteen years before you moved in with little Rosie. You not only have given me something to do with my days, but also some company. I should be thanking you," Barbara justified.

The older woman picked up her purse and plopped her book down at the bottom. Standing up straight, she glanced back at Lisbon. Quickly, she frowned and set her purse down to come closer.

Placing her hands on her hips, Lisbon knew what Barbara was looking at. She knew that by now the bruises on her neck were present.

Barbara sighed. "What happened this time?"

"A suspect didn't want to come in," she stated simply.

The older woman nodded. "What does he look like?"

"I hit him with my Taser," Lisbon assured her.

Nodding again, Barbara went back to pick up her purse. Hoisting it over her shoulder, she started to make her way towards the door. Pausing, as she was about to open it, she looked over her shoulder at Lisbon. "I saved a plate of macaroni and chicken fingers in the refrigerator for you."

With a smile, Barbara left the apartment. Lisbon waited to hear the final click of the door locking before she walked over to the refrigerator and pulled out the plate that was wrapped in holiday inspired Saran. She placed it in the microwave for a minute and thirty seconds and headed up the stairs.

In her bedroom, Lisbon unclipped her badge from her hip and removed her gun holster. She placed her weapon in the secure lockbox and into the drawer of her end table. Securely locking the drawer, Lisbon rubbed the back of her neck and started off down the hall and a little bit to the right.

Carefully, she pushed the closest door open. Lisbon was careful to keep the lights from her bedroom from penetrating the nightlight-lit room.

With a sigh, Lisbon made her way into the room and pulled the door behind her slightly closed. Walking over to the bed, Lisbon leaned over and brushed some stray dark blonde curls away from the young child's face.

Under her mother's touch, the young girl stirred from her slumber and opened her eyes. Blinking and yawning, the girl reached out and touched one of her plump, little hands to her mother's face.

"You're home, Mommy!"

Lisbon smiled and took hold of her daughter's little hand and pressed a soft kiss to the knuckles. "Nana Norris and I," Rosie paused, mulling over what she was to say next. "Nana Norris and I waited for you to come home."

"She told me," Lisbon nodded. "Now, it's now time for you to go back to sleep."

Rosie began to pout, her blue eyes narrowing in ways that reminded her of herself in the annual "behind the scenes Lisbon-family portraits." Seeing that her daughter was about to bring out the inherited stubborn-gene, Lisbon cocked her head to the side as if to challenge the little girl briefly.

"Five more minutes." Rosie was still pouting.

Lisbon moved to sit on the edge of her daughter's bed. Leaning over for long periods of time didn't do her any favours. "Two more minutes," she said.

Seeming to think this over, Rosie decided that it was better than no minutes. The little girl snuggled back under the blankets before asking, "Did you catch the bad guy?"

"Yes, I did," she nodded. "He's going away for a long time."

They spoke in the relatively dark room for the next minute, and that was when Lisbon started to note that Rosie was about to fall asleep. Her daughter had stopped talking, and was more so listening to the story her mother was telling her. After the two minutes had passed, Lisbon leaned down to press a kiss to Rosie's cheek and readjusted the blankets to ensure that the girl was nice and warm.

Lisbon continued to sit there, watching Rosie in silence. The little girl was petite with dark blonde curls just past her shoulders. Lisbon suspected that her hair would eventually turn into a lighter brown, similar in a sense to hers. Rosie's eyes were a dark blue and no doubt would become a wonderful shade of green. Lisbon was just thankful that her daughter bore more resemblance from her maternal side rather than paternal.

Taking in a deep breath, Lisbon stood from Rosie's bed and started to leave the room. She paused at the doorframe and looked back, watching as her daughter turned over in her sleep. Smiling back softly at her daughter, Lisbon walked back into her bedroom for the remainder of the evening.

Patrick Jane was still on her mind, however. It didn't take a psychic (or a detective, really) to realise that his ass was on the line with the CBI. No one would take him on as their consultant because he simply pissed everyone off.

He was helpful, that much was true. Jane would remedy any of her worries of closing cases, but he would also be the cause of a superfluous amount of stress that would enter her mind if she were to take him on as a consultant.

There was also the Red John issue. She had custody of the Red John files, and by taking Jane on; he'd have the chance to nab them. It wasn't a good idea to get him involved with Red John. She didn't know why she thought, but it was just a feeling she got.

Sighing, Lisbon leaned back against the pillow and clasped her hands over her belly. Taking in another deep breath, Lisbon closed her eyes and allowed sleep to take her.


	2. Chapter Two

Chapter Two

**January 5, 2008**

Lisbon nursed her freshly brewed coffee as she leaned her hip against the table, her mind nowhere near the confines of her apartment. Instead, her thoughts kept on drifting to Patrick Jane, the man that had abruptly disappeared from her life four and a half years ago and spontaneously returned. Though this had eased some of the worry she had felt for the bastard, it did make everything much more stressful. For one, he had to be good at whatever it is that he does or else she wouldn't be considering taking him on as her…consultant.

Minelli would think that she'd gone crazy.

"Mommy, look! I made a kitten!"

Being jarred from her thoughts at the sound of her daughter's voice, Lisbon placed her coffee cup down on the kitchen table and moved over to Rosie. The little girl had taken to moving around her soggy, yet still warm, bits of pancake around her plate to create various shapes. It appeared that Rosie had, to some extent, successfully managed to create an image of the feline persuasion.

Smoothing her daughter's messy hair down, Lisbon smiled. "I see that, sweetie."

Her little girl beamed at the term of endearment and then glanced back down at her plate. "I'm done!"

Smiling, and knowing that her daughter never ate something animal shaped because it would 'hurt the thing's feelings', Lisbon knew not to pressure her daughter into finishing the pancake. Instead, she scooped up the plate and dismissed her daughter to go play after she had wiped her sticky hands off on the damp towel.

After cleaning up the dishes, Lisbon's mind drifted back to her possible consultant. Taking Jane on as a consultant would not only reopen several old wounds, but it would leave her vulnerable for new ones. He knew too much about her from years ago and he would instantly know that something was different. Well, that much was obvious. A lot changed in a span of nearly five years, but he would sense that something much larger had happened to her since his untimely departure.

Setting the kitchen rag down by the sink, Lisbon leaned against the counter. Biting her lip and chewing the flesh between her teeth, Lisbon knew deep in her heart that she had to tell Jane about Rosie if she were to work with him. The secret would eat away at her like a festering wound and no doubt when he would eventually figure it out, everything would be so much worse for her than if she had merely told him the truth.

It wasn't as if she set out trying to hide Rosie from him, anyway. He'd disappeared without a trace. On the contrary, she would love it if Rosie were able to know her father…and be able to spend adequate time with him.

With a sigh, Lisbon moved out of her kitchen in search of her cell phone. Step one of telling Jane that he'd fathered a child, and offering him position on her team, would be to call him. Taking his phone number from his file (she'd picked it up Friday afternoon before coming home, just in case she would call him), Lisbon flipped her phone open and began to shakily dial.

She waited for a period of time, sitting down on her couch and staring at the number, before she flipped her phone shut and leaned back against the cushions. Lisbon counted to twenty, took a deep breath, and opened her phone. She took one last glance at the number on the screen and pressed the little green button with her thumb.

With one last deep breath, she held the phone up to her ear and waited for Jane to answer. After three rings, he did just that. As soon as he answered, her eyes were fixed to a sticky-note with a children's drawing on the other side of the room.

_"Hello?"_

"Jane," she said the first thing that had come to her mind (his name, of course), and instantly cursed herself for how she sounded like a dewy-eyed schoolgirl.

_"Ah, Teresa, it is good to hear your voice. How are you on this fine morning?"_

Lisbon diverted her eyes from their fixed position and sat up straighter. "Jane, I need to talk to you."

Good job, Teresa, she thought, you sounded confident.

_"Oh? Whatever for?"_

"Just…." Her eyes moved back to the children's drawing. "…Asking about something case-related."

There was a brief moment where neither spoke, that is until she heard the man move around wherever he was on the other line. _"No, you want to talk to me about coming to work with you."_

"No…."

_"How did you get my number?"_

Lisbon rolled her eyes, all concerns about asking him to be her consultant flying through the window as she grew annoyed with the man. "Minelli gave it to me."

_"Liar."_

"I'm not lying to you."

_"Bad liar."_

Rolling her eyes once more, Lisbon deducted that she felt that they were bantering like in the old days. Well…days when he was still married.

Jane chuckled and sighed. _"You tell me the time and place, my dear."_

Scanning her thoughts for possible meeting places, preferably away from the usual spots that Missus Norris takes Rosie, Lisbon's mind came to one place around downtown Sacramento. "Meet me at the Park Plaza at three?"

There was a beat before Jane said anything else. _"As you wish,"_ he said.

~O~

Tugging the warm jacket closer to his body, Jane shifted in his seat. He had yet to decipher why Lisbon would like to meet him outdoors in January rather than inside a nice, cozy teashop. A coffee shop would have worked as well, he could get a water. They never could brew tea correctly.

It was also overcast. The clouds overhead had a nasty grey look about them, indicating that rain was very possible.

Despite the notion that he was eagerly awaiting Lisbon's company, he would hope that their meeting at Park Plaza would be chaste and that they would move into the shop a couple of blocks away. The one with a really good central heating system.

When he hears the crunching of death leaves below her feet, he turns to her. Before him she stood, hands in her pockets and her chin tucked into her jacket just a little bit. She appears to be regretting her decision to meet outside on a day like this, he mused.

"Hello, Teresa," he smiled. "What do I owe this visit to?"

She diverted her eyes. "You already know," she growled.

Jane caught her eyes with his and rubbed his hands together in a futile effort to warm them. "I know Virgil would not like it if you were to take me on as your consultant." She raised her chin. "He doesn't support the idea of you and I working alongside one another. Why? I have yet to work that out."

Under his gaze, Lisbon shifted in her footing. She played with her fingers and looked away once more. She was hiding something…interesting.

"I'm looking to improve the closed-case numbers," she began, her eyes apparently finding a bit of dirt on her shoes more interesting than the conversation.

Despite that he was sure that she did indeed want to improve the number of cases closed, Jane couldn't help but notice that there must be another reason why she wanted to have this conversation. It was made even more obvious by her desire to have the aforementioned conversation in a public place. Public, but open enough for people not to listen in on the conversation. There was something else, something personal.

"I-I had a baby, Jane," she said, her voice uneven.

The mention of her progeny caused Jane to pause, but his gaze avoided hers. "A daughter," she added.

Overhead, a bolt of lightning cracked and lit the sky.

He felt hurt, upset, and conflicted. Lisbon shivered and slowly wrapped her jacket tighter around her body. "I would have told you, b-but I didn't know where you were." Jane looked down at the ground when she said this. "You were gone before I even knew that I was pregnant."

Most of all, he felt like a failure. Because he knew that the child was his.

~O~

Looking back at her, Jane's gaze drifted from her face, down to her belly. Lisbon felt self-conscious, knowing that he was examining her midsection for any sign that she had been with child.

God, she didn't like this. She didn't like this at all. And rain just started to fall from the sky to boot.

"What's her name?" he asked, obviously swallowing out of nervousness.

"Elizabeth Rose Lisbon, but everyone calls her Rosie." Lisbon fiddled with an imaginary piece of dirt under her fingernail. "Uh, she was born January the ninth."

She watched Jane nod and reach up to tap his lower lip. "Was she born early?"

Out of all of the questions to ask, Jane had to ask whether or not she was born on the correct date. She had assumed that he would ask 'what's her favourite colour' or 'what does she like to eat,' but nevertheless the man managed to surprise her.

"Yeah, she was due in February, but she obviously had other plans," she chuckled nervously and rolled back and forth on her heels. Her hands had taken residence in her pockets.

Lisbon looked back at him and noticed the pain evident on his face. For one, he was looking downward. Second, his eyebrows were drawn together. Third, his lips were parted. This was classic Jane when he was upset.

She stepped closer and moved one of her hands out of the pockets. Carefully, she rested it on his forearm and gave him a slight squeeze. She didn't like getting this close to him, or much of anyone for that matter, but she felt that it was necessary.

This was only a one-time thing, of course.

"How about a cup of tea?" He looked up at her, a slight smile slowly spreading across his features.

~O~

By five o'clock in the afternoon, rain was falling from the sky in near-torrential amounts. It was too warm outside for snow, but cold enough for a person to feel chilled to the bone.

Lisbon had called Minelli right after her conversation with Jane and asked for him to meet her at the CBI. She didn't tell him exactly why she wanted to meet with him, but nevertheless her superior arrived on time and stood in the center of his office when she walked in.

"I want to take Jane on as my consultant," she said firmly, her eyes staring straight into Minelli's as she came further into the room.

The older man stood rigid, not liking the scenario that she just set up. Sighing, the older man looked up and stared. "What did you just say?" he asked, not sure what to think of her previous statement.

Shifting her footing and briefly looking down at her shoes, Lisbon looked up and at Minelli once more. "I want Jane on my team, sir. I believe that he will be a valuable member on my team."

Nodding, Minelli turned his back to her. "I thought that's what you said."

His voice sounded almost sad, but also as if he knew that she was going to tell him this. Cocking her head to the side, Lisbon spoke, "Sir?"

Minelli turned back to face her. "When Jane first came to me, I knew that he wanted the Red John case. I could see it in his eyes."

She nodded, knowing that he did indeed want it. To the extent of what he would do with the information, she didn't know. But she had her suspicions that revenge was on his mind.

"I also thought that it wouldn't be in your best interests to interact with Jane," he continued.

"Sir?" she asked again. "My best interests?"

"Teresa." She stiffened at the sound of her given name. "I know that when he was a consultant, the last time, and you were on Martin's team that there was something going on between the two of you."

Lisbon suddenly felt like the teenager that had made her father disappointed. "His leaving hurt you, everyone could see that. Then several weeks later you came to my office to inform me of your pregnancy."

"And you think Rosie is Jane's?" she asked carefully.

With a knowing look, it confirmed her suspicions. It occurred to her that Minelli knew that Jane had fathered Rosie. Obviously, she'd never explicitly stated that they had been romantically involved. Well, not sense their 'little' argument in the middle of the CBI years ago.

"Does anyone else know about this?" Her question was phrased and asked in the exact same manner as the one she had stated earlier.

Minelli nodded. "Cho knows."

"Cho?" Her eyebrows rose up.

The older man nodded again. "Yes, Agent, Cho knows."

Feeling the heat rise in her cheeks knowing that her second-in-command recognised that she and Jane had been sexually active, she deflected her eyes. She remembered Cho watching them, but she found it overall very vague. Though, he did work at the CBI at the time that she and Jane had that 'little' spat around the kitchenette.

Minelli sighed. "If you really want him on your team, I won't stop you."

She looked up. "Oh, I don't want him on my team." Minelli gave her an odd look. "I just…want to improve the closed case numbers."

"So you say," Minelli mumbled.

Lisbon glanced down again. "Teresa, whenever there's a Red John case, please take him off of it. I don't need a loose cannon running around the state of California on a personal quest for revenge."

"Understood, sir."

Minelli gave Lisbon one last sigh before he moved to sit down behind his desk. No doubt the paperwork would have to be drawn up and then promptly delivered to Jane. The idea of working with the man again had her heart beating a rapid thumping inside her chest.

"Does he know?" Minelli asked, his hand hovering over a drawer where he held the paperwork for consultations.

Lisbon shoved her hands back in her pants pockets. "Yeah, he knows."

~O~

Pulling into the instructed parking lot, Jane quickly moved his vintage Citroën into a free space. He glanced out the window, past the droplets that had formed due to the seemingly endless rain, and up to the apartment across the lot. The lights were alight on the lower floor, indicating that the inhabitants were there or possibly asleep on the second.

It'd been a long day, he mused. After spending a few weeks on speculating how Lisbon's life had changed in the last four and a half years he was gone, he finally got his answer. She had hah a child. And not just any child, but his.

An influx of both guilt and love came to the forefront of his mind. Unconditionally, without meeting Rosie, he found himself loving her. But the sense of guilt, that he is betraying his family further than he already had in the sense that he loved his 'new' daughter. Well, that was only some of the guilt. Another large portion was due to the fact that he'd been of both Rosie and Lisbon's lives for nearly five years.

Killing the engine with a swift movement of his wrist, Jane pocketed his keys and pushed the car door open. As soon as he stepped out of the car, he was quickly moving to the front door where he quickly rapped his knuckles against the fine wood.

There was a brief pause followed by the sound of someone moving closer to the door and then bracing themself against it to check through the peephole. The weight was lifted from the door and Jane heard the wondrous sound of the lock unclicking and the door opening.

Lisbon stood before him; she wore a navy sweatshirt and black sweatpants. Her hair was down, framing her face in a way that he decided that he rather liked. Slightly messy and bringing a shadow to enhance the contours of her cheek, a beautiful sight.

"Jane."

He nodded and huddled closer towards the interior of the room, which he gathered to be the kitchen area. "May I come in?"

She seemed to mull this over for a few seconds before she crossed her arms over her chest and stepped to the side. Giving her a smile, Jane stepped out of the rain and into the warmth of Teresa Lisbon's home.

It looked freshly moved in, with boxes still in the kitchen and living room. Numerous drawings were held onto the refrigerator by a magnet, mostly of ones illustrating beach days and 'my family' portraits.

He peeked around to look into the living room, where he saw the television on mute and a little girl kneeling on the carpet. Her hair was a shade of dark blonde and had curls with a natural bounce to him. Similar to Charlotte. Her face was shaped like his and her nose like Lisbon's. Her eyes, though, were blue in colour, but he was sure that they would turn into a shade of green. He hoped they would look more like Lisbon's.

She was in the middle of playing with a large doll made of fabric. The little girl was pretending that the doll was walking across the floor and saying some type of gibberish he couldn't understand from the kitchen.

Hearing the sound of a cupboard opening and closing, Jane lost his focus on the little girl and turned back to Lisbon. Without even having to ask, Lisbon already started to pick up a teapot and put water in it from the sink. She then followed to put it on the stove and turn on the heat. It was touching that she thought about doing such without asking him.

"Minelli called me. He has some paperwork for me to sign."

Lisbon nodded and turned around to lean against the counter. "Yeah, I talked to him."

Cocking his head to the side, as if to study her, Jane learned that Lisbon had a bit of a surprise today. Well, other than his sudden appearance on her doorstep.

"What did the two of you talk about?"

She narrowed her eyes. "You."

Well, that seemed the most that he was going to get out of her that way.

The kettle began to boil and Lisbon turned to tend to it. "Remember to put the milk in first, please," he told her.

Lisbon shot a glare over her shoulder before walking over to the refrigerator and pulling out the milk. Jane watched as she put a little too much in; a smile grew on his face.

Pausing, Lisbon turned to look at him. "What?" she demanded.

Moving his shoulders up and down, Jane gestured to the little cup. "There's a bit too much milk in that."

The look on Lisbon's face was almost murderous. It was as if to say that she was only making him a cup of tea, and obliging to his preference of milk in first, out of the goodness of her heart. Apparently, he was taking advantage of that goodness.

Without another word, Lisbon reached for the kettle, flipped the top open, and poured the hot water over the milk. Steam rose up and coiled neatly. She then put the teabag in and placed the tea in front of him.

He was about to ask about the sugar when she tossed a few little packets onto the table before him. Not making any comments, Jane tore open two of the sugar packets and dumped them into his tea before completing the preparation.

Lifting up the cup to blow on it, he diverted his eyes over to where Rosie had been playing. She was gone, most likely shy because of this strange man in her home. Especially one that was extremely…wet. Something tells him that she got that little tidbit of behaviour from her mother.

Lisbon sat across from him, her arms crossed over her chest. "Why are you here, Jane?"

He took a sip. It tasted…passable.

"I wanted to thank you." She narrowed her eyes. "For taking me on as your consultant."

Placing the cup back down on the table, he fiddled with the handle. Lisbon took a deep breath and was about to say something, but a question he wanted answered sprung to mind. "What's Rosie's favourite colour?"

Immediately closing her mouth, Lisbon shifted in her seat. "She doesn't have one."

"Favourite breakfast food?"

"She really likes blueberry pancakes."

"Lunch?"

"Jane."

Pushing the tea aside, Jane leaned against the table on his forearms. "You're conflicted," he told her. "You're not sure if you want me in her life or not."

She stayed silent for several moments, her eyes locked on her hands and then at his. He still wore his wedding ring, something that probably upset her. It made him feel uncomfortable now, too. The ring almost felt as if it were burning him.

"I'm not sure if I want you in my life, either," she said, "but the CBI needs you."

Her words hurt him, but he already knew that she would have a reaction akin to wanting him away from her. He did leave her without any warning while she was pregnant with his daughter. That still did not mean that they didn't hurt.

"There's something else," he said.

Jane watched as Lisbon's eyes danced around the room. She was trying to avoid the topic as easily as she could, but he refused to let that happen.

"No—."

"Mommy?"

Seizing up just a little at the sound of Rosie's voice, Jane slowly looked around Lisbon at the little girl who snuck upon them. Rosie also appeared to be hiding behind her mother's chair.

"Why is, why is he wet?"

Lisbon turned around in her chair to face Rosie, a smile appearing on her face. "He was running around in the rain, sweetie."

Rosie looked confused. "Why?" she asked.

"Uh—."

Smiling, Jane sat up straight, despite the discomfort, in his chair. "Because I couldn't wait to see your mother," he told the little girl.

"Why?"

"Uh, Mister Jane is a really old friend of Mommy's," Lisbon said. "We haven't seen each other in awhile. Because he moved away." She added the last bit quickly, most likely knowing that Rosie was going to ask 'why' again.

Rosie's eyes grew huge. "Did you move to, um, Chic-a-go?"

Jane couldn't help the smile that appeared on his face. The way Rosie phrased her question was just…priceless. And the small chuckle that Lisbon made was a nice touch, as well.

"Oh, I lived in Chicago for a little bit."

"You did?"

"Really?"

Rosie grew very excited. Lisbon was just confused.

Nodding, Jane leaned over and watched as Rosie moved away from behind her mother's chair and moved closer to him. She reminded him a lot of Charlotte, even more so up close. "Yes, I did. For about a month."

"A month?"

"A month," he restated.

The little girl seemed to be thinking over what he had just conveyed to her. Nevertheless, she seemed quite excited that he had told her how long he had lived in Chicago. "That's a, a really long time!"

He felt his grin grow bigger. "Yes it is."

Rosie was about to say something, but Lisbon stood from her chair and knelt down beside her daughter. "Rosie, sweetie, I think it's time for you to go upstairs and get ready for bed."

She shook her head defiantly, the little curls bouncing. "No."

"Elizabeth."

"No!"

Cheerfulness was gone from Lisbon's face in a heartbeat, replaced by a mother truly wanting her child to leave the room. "Elizabeth Rose Lisbon, you will listen to me when I tell you to do something. Go upstairs and put on your pyjamas."

Pouting, Rosie crossed her little arms over her chest in the most resilient way that she could. Lisbon continued to give her the 'displeased parent' look until Rosie moved away and started walking (with very heavy stomps) towards the staircase. Jane found himself chuckling.

"She gets that from you, you know," he mused. "The attitude when something doesn't go her way."

Lisbon's eyes snapped to his, narrowing at the sound of his voice. "You don't even know her," she said bitterly.

The previous grin disappeared from Jane's face as soon as the words left her mouth. It hurt, what she said to him. He felt his heart stop for a brief moment and then slowly return to normal. In the pit of his stomach, Jane felt sick. Lisbon's icy stare didn't lower the amount of emotional guilt and pain flittering about in his head.

"Then let me."

As soon as he had learned about Rosie's existence, he found it imperative that he met with the child. After Charlotte's death, Jane couldn't see him being a father again. Being around children, yes, but actually fathering a child seemed impossible. As did finding a wife, now. But as soon as the reality that he had another child, Jane knows that he has to be in her life.

Lisbon's gaze softened and she looked down at her hands. "I'm not sure if I can," she said.

Leaning back into his chair, Jane tapped a steady rhythm on the table. He knew why Lisbon didn't want him, for the most part, to be in Rosie's life. She didn't quite view him as a stable figure to be around their child.


	3. Chapter Three

Chapter Three 

**September 2, 2008**

Missing person's cases were never a good break from the usual homicide. Especially when the victim has been missing for over seventy-two hours, which meant that the 'break' would no longer be classified as such. Which, just three hours ago, it was ruled as a homicide caused by a young (and slightly creepy) boy.

And Lisbon had more than enough paperwork because of Jane. She'd just, thankfully, finished working through all the tedious papers to get her new rookie, Grace Van Pelt, to come into Sacramento and begin work in about two weeks.

The girl was from a small town in Iowa. She would have a lot to get used to. Lisbon just hoped that she would actually get used to Sacramento (and Jane) and stay for more than a week.

So far, Van Pelt was the third rookie to come this year. Armstrong was the first and lasted a week, then Diaz. Diaz didn't even last forty-eight hours.

A knock on the door snapped Lisbon out of her paperwork-induced reverie. Looking up, she saw Jane standing in the doorway, a smile plastered on his face as he walked into her office with a pink moleskin diary held in his hands.

It was time to go, that much she knew. The Tolliver family was holding a highly publicised, also known as televised, announcement of gratitude for all the law enforcement that had been working diligently in finding their beloved daughter.

"We should talk to the father," he said.

Lisbon stood to her feet and sighed. It wasn't the first time Jane had suggested that they talk to Morgan Tolliver, the now grieving father.

Picking up her jacket from the coat hanger, Lisbon pulled her arms through the holes and tugged it forward. "The McClusky boy did it."

Jane shook his head. "I'm not too sure about that."

Lisbon straightened up her desk a bit and shot a glare in Jane's direction. His statement meant that he was going to do something that would, without a doubt, result in another complaint being added to his file. Which meant that she'd be filling out more paperwork tonight.

"McClusky gave Tolliver the creeps."

"He cared about her, in his own unsettling way. That doesn't mean he killed her," Jane said as he took a step closer to her. "You need to talk to the father."

Lisbon diverted her eyes and snatched the keys to the Suburban off of her desk. "We're running late."

~O~

Jane did not know why Lisbon was so damn stubborn about the Tolliver case. From the beginning, he'd been telling her to check out the father. And of course, she refused to do such. This was because she just did not wish for him to be right, he thought. Right again.

He smirked and glanced over at Lisbon, whose eyes were directly in front and facing the road. He would find a way to prove that there was more than meets the eye to Morgan Tolliver. He'd read the diary; he knew how uncomfortable the Tolliver girl had been around her father. No doubt she decided not to have sex with him anymore, leading to great anger to the man.

Though, the image of a grown man forcing a teenaged girl, his daughter, to submit to his desires caused Jane's stomach to churn and ache. Tolliver was damn lucky to have had a daughter as decent as he did, but the fact that he was responsible for her death made Jane want nothing more than to kill him at first glance. Daughters were a special gift for their fathers to love and protect, not hate and exploit.

To ease his discomfort, Jane curled his fingers and looked out the window as the car drew nearer to its destination. He felt Lisbon take one last look at him once she pulled up to the Tolliver's residence and said nothing. Instead, she turned off the car and stepped out into the madness.

He followed her, too. And everything was quite a sight. Reporters ran around the neighbourhood with cameras and microphones, their desire to get a glimpse of the grieving family snuffed out any sense of decency. Not that Jane really cared, anyway, as Morgan Tolliver was a vile bastard.

Though, he did feel a semblance of pity for the McClusky boy, who was being shoved into the back of a squad car loudly proclaiming that he "didn't do it!" Jane believed him, of course, and knew that the boy would eventually find his way out of prison. Especially when Jane was done with the vile bastard.

"Captain." He heard Lisbon address the man in charge.

The so-called captain, no doubt rather sexist, Jane deduced, straightened up and glanced at Lisbon. "Agent Lisbon." Well, at least he acknowledged her by her proper title. "Don't think we'll be needing you guys. We like the neighbour kid who found the body."

Lisbon turned to look at the boy looking out the window from the squad car. Her face remained passive as she turned back to look at the captain. "Did he confess?" she asked.

Turning his attention away from the two law enforcement officials, Jane began to wander towards the large Tudor-style home, known as the Tolliver residence. He tried his best to ignore the press rudely accosting the McClusky.

"Mercy's father would like to give a brief statement…."

Of course he would, Jane thought.

Jane turned around and looked up on the stage, were Mercy's parents stood. Morgan was standing tall, his mouth pressed almost to the mic as he clutched his wife, Juniper, close to him. He was trying, and failing, to keep his wife's hand within his. Jane wasn't really listening to the conversation; he found it unnecessary and a waste of time. Tolliver was giving the press something they would expect of a rich and grieving father and his wife obviously didn't believe him about something. Jane's, correct, if he may add, guess would be that Juniper Tolliver knew what her husband was capable of.

When he felt his stomach rumble, Jane turned away from the family and headed towards the house. It was quite nice, given that it was a mansion. But he was mostly interested in finding the kitchen to alleviate some of the hunger pains. And wait for Juniper Tolliver. He wanted to talk to her in an environment where she felt comfortable. Her kitchen, he deduced, would be where she'd feel more comfortable. Away from prying eyes and searching cameras.

Finding the kitchen, Jane set forward to the task of placing a handsome teakettle on the range and searching for the makings of a good sandwich. He found some bread, turkey, and cheese, all within the expiration date, and put it all together. Once done, he scooped up his plate and took a bite from the sandwich, and began to look around the kitchen. There was a wall filled with photos of the Tolliver family. The matriarch must have put them up, seeing as it was doubtful that the sick bastard obviously didn't do such.

He took another bite as the kettle began to whistle.

~O~

Pocketing her pad and pen, Lisbon excused herself from the captain. As far as she was concerned, the CBI was done here. The killer, the McClusky boy, was caught and all that was needed to be done was to get a confession out of him. Which did not make it imperative for her (and Jane) to be there.

Jane…was missing. That was never good, as that's how paperwork was always thrust upon her at the most inconvenient times.

With a sigh, Lisbon started to roam the neighbourhood for any sign of the bane of her existence, hoping that he would turn up making flower crowns or sniffing a rock. Despite finding him doing such things irritating, Lisbon was always secretly pleased that he wasn't causing trouble. Though, there was a slight niggling thought that Jane was to cause havoc today. She didn't know why she thought this, but usually when things were to be calm…it turned out to be the exact opposite with Patrick Jane.

Just as she was about to take a deep breath and declare that this would be a chaos-free day, Lisbon heard a series of gunshots coming from the inside of the Tolliver residence. Stiffening and reaching for her firearm, Lisbon started for the nearest door, police officers hot on her heels.

She entered a brightly lit kitchen with a man dead on the floor and another holding his arms up in the air. A woman, Juniper Tolliver, stood in shock at what she had just done when the gun fell from her fingers and clattered to the floor. Still in shock, she left the room and went outside to the gardens.

Jane turned around and shook his head. "Honestly, it's not as bad as it looks."

Lowering and holstering her weapon, Lisbon started after the Tolliver woman. She was aware of Jane's eyes following her, but she refused to even look at him at the moment. Honestly, she just wanted one day where the man didn't cause a load of paperwork to be dropped upon her.

"Missus Tolliver." The woman didn't answer her back. "Missus Tolliver!"

~O~

Honestly, he had not meant for the woman to kill her husband. It was just unfortunate that there was no one around to have stopped the killing…though, he had to admit, he did not feel any sense of remorse for the man. He did, after all, have sex and kill his daughter. Actually, justice had been served in its best possible way. He just did not see why he had to be suspended for it.

Minelli, much like Lisbon, was upset to hear about what had transpired at the Tolliver residence. Lisbon was reprimanded for not keeping a closer eye on him, which he felt sort of bad about, and he was asked to not come back into the CBI for three weeks. Also known as, he was suspended. His third, actually.

And he hated being suspended. It was extremely tedious to not have anything to do. Though, he did enjoy going over to Lisbon's apartment to spend some time with his daughter (and Missus Norris). Lisbon was always perturbed when he did this. Well, sometimes she was grateful if he had brought something over for her to eat. But that lasted for about five minutes at the most.

"Mister Jane!"

Smiling, Jane turned his attention back to the little girl seated on the couch dressed in fairy tale clothing. They were watching some animated film on the television, and he had quite obviously strayed his attentions.

"I like this one!" she exclaimed as she pointed to the television, where the prince and princess kissed at the end of their wedding. "They love each other, that's why they're get-ing married."

"Oh?" he mocked his lack of knowledge on animated fairy tales. They all, for the most part, ended up the same. The two main characters got married and lived happily ever after.

Rosie nodded. "Yeah, and then they have one hundred babies!"

Turning his head away from Rosie, Jane chuckled quietly. Rosie was obsessed with the number 'one hundred', apparently. It was usually her number for everything. ("I can eat one hundred cookies," "I can do one hundred jumps," "There are one hundred birds up there!")

Ah, Lisbon was going to be angry with him. He had dismissed Missus Norris upon his arrival, seeing that she had a slight allergy problem. Summer was drawing to a close and autumn was coming, meaning that allergies were striking at random. And Lisbon…didn't really like him being with Rosie unsupervised. She most likely assumed that he'd tell Rosie of who he was to her, relation wise.

The credits began to roll across the screen and Jane stood to get started on dinner. He was thinking spaghetti and meatballs, seeing as Lisbon really needed to go to the supermarket. And he decided upon entering the apartment that he'd do it himself tomorrow. After all, he was on suspension and had nothing else better to do with his time.

~O~

It had been a long, long day and all Lisbon wanted to do was eat whatever dinner Missus Norris prepared (Lisbon would tell her she didn't have to cook, but she always did anyway). She was tired and had the headache to prove it. Well, Jane being his typical pain in the ass was also cause of the headache.

Fiddling with her keys, Lisbon stuck them in the door and turned left. Taking a deep breath, she was about to open the door when she head…giggling? Well, sometimes she'd come home to Rosie giggling at something on the television, but this one sounded closer to the door. Furrowing her brow, she pulled the door open and took a step inside, seeing her daughter with the devil at her kitchen table.

"Mommy!" Rosie's eyes lit up at the sight of her mother, amid the pasta sauce covering her face.

Lisbon looked around, forcing a smile to appear on her face. "What is this?"

Jane smiled. Damn him.

"I made dinner."

That he did. Spaghetti and meatballs, to be exact. Her stomach growled.

"Yeah, I can see that," she said.

Taking a deep breath, to calm the nerves that started to niggle their way into her being, she looked at her daughter again. "Jane, can I talk to you alone for a second?"

The smile on Jane's face didn't falter, but he nodded and placed his napkin on the table as he stood. "Lead the way." He made a gesture and Lisbon started to walk farther away from the table. He followed her.

She stopped when they were on the other side of the room, just out of earshot from the table. Taking another deep breath, Lisbon turned to look at him. "What are you doing here?"

Jane shrugged. "I wanted to see Rosie. And your neighbour could use a break on occasion."

"Did you think to ask me first?" She crossed her arms over her chest.

"I have to ask to spend time with my child?"

She rolled her eyes. "Legally –."

He cut her off. "Don't give me that, Teresa." Her eyes bared into his at the mention of her given name. They had a no first name policy, it seemed. "She's my daughter and I should have the right to see her whenever I like."

Opening her mouth to speak again, Lisbon immediately closed it. What she was going to say would no doubt hurt him, but she caught herself beforehand. Sure, she and Jane weren't exactly on the best of terms but she would never try to hurt him intentionally.

Jane leaned in closer. "Just because I wasn't there for the first four years does not mean that I cannot be in her life now, Teresa."

Pulling away, Jane gave Lisbon a small smile before he brushed past her towards the kitchen table. Rosie was trying to twirl a large piece of pasta with her fork, but was having trouble. Lisbon watched as Jane reach for her fork and assist her, and that is what made her realise that Jane had missed out on so much. Looking away, to regain some composure, Lisbon took another deep breath before she headed to the table. Smiling at Rosie and ignoring Jane, she sat down and started to serve herself.

She did not glance at him once during the dinner, but she felt his eyes on her constantly.


	4. Chapter Four

Chapter Four

**September 18-19, 2008**

Moving the teabag up and down, Jane listened to the news being broadcast on the television. It was the usual weather forecast, interesting story, and strange new food invention. Well, it was the usual until the mention of a serial murder.

Jane's eyes snapped up from his teacup and locked onto the television. "A murder of a man and woman occurred last night in Palm Springs. Authorities speculate that notorious serial killer, Red John –."

He set the teacup back on the table and fumbled with his pocket to pull out his cell phone. Flipping the top open, he shakily searched for Lisbon's name before pressing the green button. Taking a deep breath, he held it to his ear until he heard the phone make the call.

And, of course, his call was diverted to voicemail. She was probably boarding her plane or knew that he would be calling her one way or another.

Rolling his eyes and snapping his phone shut, Jane sat down on the moth-eaten motel duvet. He needed to get to Palm Springs.

He was about to try and re-dial Lisbon's number again, hoping that she was merely on the phone with someone else, when his cell sprung to life. The name **"KIMBALL CHO"** was written across the little screen and Jane smiled.

Flipping the phone back and pressing it against his ear, he greeted his, at this moment, favourite CBI Agent. "Cho-o, what can I do for you?"

There was a pause on the other end, almost as if Cho was not supposed to be on the phone. Well, he most likely was not supposed to be, especially if Lisbon were close by. "We've got a case, and it looks like Red John."

"Palm Springs." He did not even need to ask.

"We're all boarding a plane in a couple of minutes."

Jane smiled into the phone. "Thank you, Cho."

Cho was silent on the other end before he muttered a quick farewell. Jane, still smiling, hit the red button and flipped his phone shut.

Lying back against the bed, Jane closed his eyes and searched his memory palace for an acquaintance that could either get him on a plane within the hour or had their own plane. His mind, then, came to rest Marcus Billingsley. He had met the man when he had been living in Las Vegas about ten years ago. He was, to say the least, a professional gambler who owed him a favour. With a smile, Jane flipped his phone open once more and dialled another number.

"Marcus! This is Patrick Jane. I am in need of a favour."

~O~

Lisbon hated leaving Rosie home while she had to leave for a case. It tended to happen more than she would like to admit, but she was always thankful for Missus Norris's ever-faithful dedication to watching her daughter while she was away. The thought of her daughter in capable hands put Lisbon at ease.

With a sigh, Lisbon heaved her suitcase up into an overhead compartment. Rigsby stood up from his seat, almost in an offer to help her, but backed down when he saw that she had gotten it up there. Tipping her head to the side, Lisbon regarded Rigsby's intentions and moved to sit down in her aisle seat.

Adjusting her position in her seat, Lisbon buckled up her safety belt and reached for a magazine. Out of the corner of her eye as she read the table of contents, she saw Grace Van Pelt, her new rookie, move to sit down next to Rigsby. The man seemed flustered immediately, shifting in his seat almost excitedly. She was attractive, that Grace Van Pelt. Lisbon just hoped Van Pelt was smart enough to stay away from him.

"So…how's your first day going so far?" Rigsby asked.

Lisbon heard the rustle of periodicals. "It's been going great, thanks!"

Rolling her eyes, Lisbon flipped a page in her magazine as the pilot began to make his initial announcements. It was the usual mentions of the weather and estimated time of arrival; she had flown enough to expect it all.

Soon enough, the plane took off from the runway and they were up in the air towards Palm Springs International Airport. After the take-off, Lisbon stowed away her magazine and pressed the tiny little button that made her seat go back. Shutting her eyes, Lisbon allowed herself to fall into a slumber that made up for the little sleep she had last night.

She had gotten the call late last night that a murder occurred in Palm Springs and that it appeared to be Red John's doing. Lisbon had groaned once the words "Red John" left Minelli's lips, because she knew that Jane would try his hardest to wheedle his way into working the case. After she hung up the phone with Minelli, Lisbon spent the next few hours packing her necessities in a small rolling suitcase before making arrangements with sleepy old Missus Norris.

Jolting awake at the sensation of turbulence, Lisbon sat up straight in her seat. Inhaling deeply, she brought her seat back into the upright position just as a flight attendant began to walk by.

"Excuse me, ma'am," she began, "but can you tell me when we are expected to land?"

The flight attendant, tall and blonde, spun around on her heel and looked down at the seated agent. "We're expected to land in about fifteen minutes or so," she said.

Nodding, Lisbon mumbled a brief "thank you" before she reached for a newspaper that she had yet to skim through. And without a doubt, the new Red John case was plastered on the front page. No doubt Jane knew by now that Red John had, yet again, killed.

~O~

When Jane walked down the steps of Marcus's private jet, he turned around and waved with a bright smile. Marcus, however, stood at the top of the stairs with his arms crossed sternly over his chest.

Turning back around, noting that he was not quite welcome, Jane tossed his jacket over his shoulder and started for the red and yellow cab that was at the other end of the tarmac. His smile brightened at the sight of the cab driver, and he was instantly glad that he had called for his service thirty minutes ago.

"You Mister Jane?" the driver asked.

Jane nodded. "Yeah, that would be me. You my driver?"

The cab driver grunted and opened the door up for him. "No suitcase?"

Shaking his head and climbing into the back of the car, Jane held his hands up to show that he was, essentially, empty-handed. "No suitcase," he confirmed.

Grunting again, the driver looped around and got in his side of the car. Starting up the engine, he pulled away from the tarmac and started for the main road that would no doubt lead to a highway.

In the backseat, Jane rolled his shoulders backwards to get all the kinks out of them as he yawned. He did not really like flying these days, but he knew it was needed sometimes. Especially when he had to get somewhere fast. And, given that he was on suspension, Lisbon refused to tell him anything. So he had to beat her to the coroner's office if he wanted to get any details.

Unless I can convince her otherwise, he mused.

Shifting in his seat, Jane looked out the window and watched as the desert-like scenery passed by as the car sped onto the highway. They'd reach Palm Springs in no time, he decided. He did not really like Palm Springs very much. He really did not know why, it just irked him. Maybe it was slightly too close to Los Angeles, regardless of being over one hundred miles away. There was a reason why he preferred Sacramento these days, and it wasn't just the CBI being located there.

Closing his eyes, Jane could still remember the studio lights hitting his face as he gave a farce psychic reading concerning a woman and her relationship with her father. Then he remembered siting sitting opposite those who interviewed him, those who brought up Red John. He was so stupid and reckless back then.

But his mind then drifted to something else entirely. Nothing horrible, he knew. It was his last night with one Teresa Lisbon in her hotel room. He felt guilty for being with her rather than with his family. Maybe if he had been home with them, they would still be alive and well. Charlotte would be so grown up now…. His mind then shifted to Rosie. Oh, his darling Rosie. Ever since he found out about her existence, all he wanted to do was be around her, much to Lisbon's apprehension. If he had not been with Lisbon that night, then Rosie would not exist.

Sometimes he felt like he was in a rock and a hard place. He knew that that night he had lost his wife and child, but gained another daughter. And now that he had had a taste of his child with Lisbon, Jane could never wish that she never existed.

Sometimes he did not know what to make of his situation.

Opening his eyes, Jane was mildly surprised to see that they were already driving through downtown Palm Springs, even though it was at a slow speed. Meh, cab drivers. Always wanting to get the most money that they can swindle out of their customers. It was almost an ironic situation.

The driver pulled up to the Riverside County Morgue, parked the car at the curb, and grunted a price. It was hefty, but Jane did not complain when he pulled out his wallet and paid the driver close to one hundred dollars in cash.

As he was putting his wallet back into his pocket, he looked out the window to see Lisbon, Cho, and Rigsby walk down the sidewalk towards the morgue. Well, there went his plan for arriving before them.

Inwardly groaning, Jane pushed open the door and started to step out of the red and yellow vehicle. It felt good to stand.

"Morning, everybody!"

The trio of agents immediately stopped walking and turned to him. Lisbon's eyes met his sharply as they narrowed. He knew she would be pissed, but she just looked dangerous. And he could feel the tension radiating off of her and to him like no other.

"How was your flight?" He tried to smooth things over, knowing that the rest of the day would not be simple.

"Go away, you're on suspension."

Lisbon turned away from him and started walking down the sidewalk again, her agents following behind her. Jane thanked the cab driver again, getting another grunted reply, and started jogging after the trio. His heart started to beat rapidly and he inwardly cursed at his lack of motivation to exercise more than he did. Which was rather rare.

Catching up with Lisbon, Jane falls in step with her. It was difficult for him to keep up with her pace. "Mandated leave, ends next week."

"So come back next week."

Jane looked over his shoulder at Cho, his breath coming out in pants. "Hot enough for you?"

Again, he was trying to smooth things over with Lisbon.

"Which one of you jackasses told him?"

Jane cringed.

"It was you, wasn't it Cho?"

Bingo.

"Yes, it was."

Oh, Jane did not envy Cho. Now the both of them were on Teresa Lisbon's "bad" list for the duration of the case. He was quite certain that Rigsby did not envy either of them.

"Of course he called me. It's Red John, you can't keep me out of this." He turned his head toward her. "Why would you want to?"

She looked at him briefly. "You got a man killed, there's consequences."

Jane mentally rolled his eyes. Sometimes he just wanted to grab Lisbon by the upper arms and give her a firm shake. That evil bastard, Morgan Tolliver, got what was coming to him. If he hadn't died by the hand of his wife, Juniper, then he most likely would have been given a slow and much more painful way to go in prison. Though, he would have liked for the man to have a slow and painful death.

"Oh, a man that murdered his daughter because she wouldn't have sex with him anymore," he said blankly.

As they started to ascend the stairs outside the morgue, Lisbon slowed down her pace. He turned to her and glanced at her annoyed and slightly angry face. "You didn't know that." Jane stopped at the top of the stairs and she continued up.

"You did not know that," she continued, "if she hadn't left a diary—."

"But she did, though," he interrupted. "Be reasonable. This is my case."

At the mention of his case, Lisbon moved back just a little. "Your case?"

Behind her, Cho and Rigsby exchanged glances. The duo knew that there was going to be some sort of argument about to start, so they moved into the building.

Smart men, Jane thought.

Jane stepped closer to Lisbon. "Red John's mine, Teresa."

Shrugging her shoulders and stiffening at the use of her given name, Lisbon moved back a step. "Red John doesn't belong to anyone."

He moved closer once more, knowing that Lisbon would not dare take a step back or risk falling down the stairs. His eyes locked onto hers, pleading with her to let him stay. "He belongs to me," he said.

"It's not my call," Lisbon started, her voice almost hesitant. He had her, he knew, but she was trying to follow protocol. Meh, always with the protocol. "Rules are rules, come back next week."

Jane stepped aside, knowing that he had done what he could to convince Lisbon into allowing him to work on the case. She brushed past him and into the morgue, her head tossing to the side to tell the security guard not to let him in.

Smiling, Jane pulled out his cell phone and dialled a familiar number. No doubt he could persuade Minelli into letting him work the case.

~O~

Honestly, she should have expected Jane to go over her head (yet again) and call Minelli. As usual, he was able to persuade her boss into letting him work on the case again. This happened last time, but most likely because she was certain that Jane was tired of being Rosie's styling model and he had the means of manipulating people into doing what he wished.

And the fact that he went over her head only made her anger at him grow, despite the fact that he apologised.

Trying to keep her anger in check the best she can, she continued down the hallway towards where she knew Doctor Linus Wagner sat and waited for them. The man was seated solemnly on a bench, his eyes downcast until he heard them coming.

"Doctor Wagner, hi." She reached out to shake his hand in hers. "I'm Agent Teresa Lisbon, California Bureau of Investigation. What's your connection to the victims?"

Doctor Wagner took in all of the agents around him. "Well, I work with Gregory, Doctor Tannen, and the Randolph family are long-time clients of our practise."

"Are house calls the norm at your practise?"

She wondered why Gregory Tannen was even with Alison Randolph. Especially late at night alone, seeing that the most likely cause was due to an affair.

"No, Gregory and Alison were close friends," Wagner said, looking forlorn once more.

Rigsby piped up. "Lovers?"

Wagner shook his head. "No, he was gay." Lisbon shifted her eyes irritably at Jane. Damn him! "They were just friends. What in God's name happened to them?"

"Looks like Red John," Rigsby stated.

Lisbon caught herself before she rolled her eyes at Rigsby.

Wagner looked up; his eyes alight with much interest. "Who's Red John?"

"We don't know who did this," she started. "We'll be in touch, probably. Thank you for your time."

Shaking Doctor Wagner's hand, Lisbon turned to leave. Her team, plus Jane, followed her towards the rental van parked at the curb down the street. When Rigsby unlocked the van, Lisbon shot a glare over her shoulder at Jane. Pretending not to notice, Jane looked the other direction.

His very presence set her teeth on edge. She made it very clear that he ought not to stay, and yet he went over her head and called Minelli. Now here he was, climbing into the vehicle and driving with her to the crime scene to meet with the tech.

Brett Partridge, their crime scene investigator of the week, would join them and the Randolph house. And Lisbon just hoped that Jane wouldn't screw this one up too. Two techs ago, Jane had insulted the CSI and before she knew it, a complaint had been placed on her desk. Jane had merely shrugged and "meh-ed" his view on the entire situation.

On the way to the Randolph house, Lisbon pulled out the file the coroner had given her and began to recap how Alison died. In the backseat, Jane looked out the window and Cho nodded his head. Eyes flashing up to the rear-view mirror, Lisbon glared at Jane. Slowly, he turned to face her and smiled softly. Narrowing her eyes, Lisbon looked away.

They pulled up to the victim's residence in what Lisbon would call record timing. She was grateful to unbuckle her safety belt and leave the vehicle. Outside of the house was Brett Partridge, a young and slightly geeky-looking man.

"I'm Agent Lisbon with the CBI, and these are Agents Cho and Rigsby."

Partridge waved hesitantly at the two men behind her, but raised a questioning eyebrow at Jane. Lisbon looked over her shoulder, noted that Jane was trying to take in the house, his hands clasped tightly behind his back.

"And this is Patrick Jane, our consultant."

Nodding, Partridge led them into the Randolph house and began to act out the scene that he assumed that the infamous serial killer would have created. "Red John enters here," he started.

Rigsby took a few steps forward, getting in the man's way. "Excuse me," Partridge said, "He comes around here. He waits for her, expecting her to come in alone."

Lisbon watched as the man moved around the room, slightly disturbed by the man's…interest in recreating a crime scene.

The man suddenly stopped, smiling as he played with his red tie. "Only thing, her friend Tannen chose the wrong night to come over for a Richard Gere and ice cream orgy."

Narrowing her eyes at the tech, Lisbon watched as the man continued on after realising that he had said something inappropriate. "So, Red John zaps them both with his trusty stun gun and excuse me." Partridge moves around Cho, who stood near a bag of golf clubs that the CSI was reaching for. "Grabs a five iron from the bag here."

She watched as Partridge gripped the five iron tightly in his hands and swung down, bringing the club several centimetres away from the bloodstained carpet. "BAM, crushes Tannen's skull. Then takes his sweet time dealing with Alison how he likes," Partridge said as he turned toward the bedroom where Red John's main victim was killed. "She's a nice big girl…."

Movement in her peripherals caught Lisbon's attention. Turning her attention away from the…nutty tech, Lisbon's eyes followed the form of Patrick Jane entering Alison Randolph's bedroom. She debated calling after him, informing him that he ought to stay around her, but she decided not to. Jane did his best work when snooping around a victim's (or suspect's) home.

Also, this was a Red John case. Therefore, even if she wanted to, Lisbon knew that she couldn't sway Jane from it. Even though she desperately wanted him to go back to Sacramento. Red John cases did him no good, she knew.

Blinking, Lisbon followed Cho, Rigsby, and Partridge into the bedroom. She braced herself for the sight of the blood and evidence that Red John had, in fact, killed another woman in her own home.

Even after all of these years working the Red John case, Lisbon still didn't like to see his signature. She couldn't help it, but she would always connect the sight to when came to the Jane residence in Malibu. Lisbon could still feel her stomach churning at the sight.

Jane was still in the bedroom and started making his way towards them once he realised they had entered. He took his position beside her and watched as Partridge began to examine the evidence.

"There she blows," Partridge began, excited at the sight of a Red John smiley, "classic Red John smiley face."

She watched as the tech came closer to the wall and brought his hand up to the drawing to trace it, a couple of centimetres away, of course. "Drawn in the victim's blood clockwise with three fingers of his right hand wearing a rubber kitchen glove," he said with evident glee as he turned around. "I'm stoked to finally see one in the flesh!"

Lisbon had to admit, the look present in the CSI's eyes was…not normal.

"This isn't Red John," Jane stated blankly.

Partridge shifted his stance, not liking what Jane had to say. "Ri-i-ight."

"Red John thinks of himself as a showman, an artist. He has a strong sense of theatre." Jane took a few steps until he stood in the middle of the room. "In all of the previous killings, he made sure that the first thing anyone sees is the face on the wall. You see the face first and you know."

Lisbon blinked and looked down at her shoes.

"You know what's happened and you feel dread. Then, and then only, do you see the body of the victim. Always in that order. Here it's the opposite."

Jane took another step pointed at the bloody smiley face, and turned around. "The first thing you see is the body and you have to look around to see the face on the wall. It doesn't play nearly as well, does it?"

Lisbon looked up and was about to speak when Jane held up a hand to silence her. "No. The killer did not paint on the right wall because he's not Red John."

Stopping, Lisbon locked eyes with Jane. Anger bubbled up inside of her at the thought that Jane had interrupted her. She set her jaw straight and shifted her footing.

"Wow, interesting," Partridge said dryly.

"And you know what your problem is, my friend?" Lisbon watched Jane whirl around at the CSI tech, and groaned inwardly. Not only was she pissed off now because Jane silenced her before she even opened her mouth, but no doubt was he about to generate another complaint that she would have to work on once they all returned to Sacramento.

Oh, God.

"You enjoy your work a little too much. You're a ghoul. If you don't get horny reading Fangoria, I'm Britney Spears."

And there it was.

Partridge, flabbergasted, tightened his grip on the five iron. "I-I resent that!"

Lisbon, rolling her eyes, took a step forward and kept her anger in check. "This is you trying to redeem yourself, is it?"

He did say that he would make it up to her in the coroner's office. And, apparently, that translated to more paperwork for her.

Jane looked down at the carpet. "I'm sorry. He irks me. He's irksome and you don't need me here."

Without commenting further, Jane brushed past all the inhabitants of the room. Lisbon sighed, apologised for Jane's behaviour and tried to, and failed, to dissuade Partridge from submitting any formal complaints against Jane. As she, Cho, and Rigsby walked out of the Randolph house, Lisbon cursed under her breath and felt the sudden urge to throw Patrick Jane up against the rental van by the lapels of his coat and shake some sense into him.

Or just punch him in the nose. Whichever worked better.

"We need to go back to the sheriff's office," she said.

The two men nodded and Rigsby walked faster towards the car. Cho stayed behind her, not really wanting to become her latest victim of rage again. He knew, most likely, that it was all centered on Jane at the moment.

They clambered into the car, Lisbon in the front passenger seat, and pulled away from the Randolph residence. Once, Lisbon glanced into the rear view mirror to look at Jane, but glanced away before she could see him look back.

"Could you drop me off at the airport, please?" They were not far from the Randolph's home when Lisbon heard Jane ask the question.

At the sound of his voice, Lisbon immediately stiffened in her seat and turned to look at him. "You're leaving," she state flatly.

Jane glanced down and back up. "Well, I have to get my shoes x-rayed anyway. So, I figured I'd get on a plane."

He looked away, most likely knowing that she'd be angry with him. Well, he was correct to assume so, as she had every right to be angry with him at this point. She was even more so than before due to his complete disregard to help catch the killer of Alison Randolph and Gregory Tannen.

"And off you go on your merry way." He turned back to look at her slowly, sensing the tension rise in the rental van. "These lives lost here mean nothing to you."

Jane looked up. "Not nothing." She continued to stare at him. "I'm confused. You don't want me here and it's not Red John. So, I'm going. What's your problem?"

She blinked. "We don't know that it's not Red John and what I want is not the point."

He continued, Cho included now, to stare at her. At this point she realised that she had taken him off guard. It felt good.

"Oh, wait a minute. I get it. You're just trying to get me to ask you to stay." She turned around in her seat to look through the front of the windscreen, not really paying attention to anything and continued her attempt to keep him off guard.

"Why would you think that?" she heard him ask. "Why would she think that?" he asked, quieter.

Rolling her eyes, Lisbon turned around once more in her seat. "Because A, you've got nowhere to go, and B, you're an egomaniac."

She knew that she had him at this point. He was no longer caught off guard because she was telling him exactly what she thought, and what he knew she thought, of him. This was confirmed when he tossed his head back slightly and smiled.

"You think it's impossible that I really and truly do not want to work with you. You think that deep down inside I've got a grudging respect for your genius," she paused, "the truth is, deep down, I'm scared of you. You've got no boundaries, no common sense. You're filled with all this…this shit you refuse to acknowledge." He was still smiling.

"One day you're going to create one mother of a tragedy for yourself and everybody around you. I don't want to be there when it happens." At this, he looked down at his lap. She wanted him to think not only about himself, as he had been all day, and think about someone else. Someone small and more vulnerable. She wanted him to think about Rosie, and she knew that she had gotten what she wanted.

"So, we'll drive you to the airport – it's fine."

Finishing her sentence, Lisbon turned around and sat forward in her seat once more. "Take a left on Bob Hope," she said to Rigsby.

"Uh, that's okay. Just let me off right here," Jane said from behind.

Rigsby looked over his shoulder. "We'll drive you, it's no problem."

"Stop the car."

Lisbon looked at Rigsby one more time before back through the windscreen. She knew she hit her target and decided that it was now time to back off and let him do as he wished. Though, she was a little surprised that Jane decided that he wanted to get out of the car here…right in front of a gas station.

~O~

As soon as the CBI rental van drove away, Jane realised that Lisbon had baited him. Well, not necessarily to get out of the car in front of a gas station, but to make him mull things over for a bit. She would be calling him in a matter of minutes to either check up on him or ask him to come back. Or maybe a mixture of both.

When he returned to Sacramento, not only in hopes of getting a hold of the Red John case files, Jane knew that she wouldn't be the same Teresa Lisbon that he fell in love with five years ago. Though, he did not expect for things to quite turn out how they have been lately. For example, Jane did not expect Rosie to exist. Nevertheless, whenever he thought of his little girl, he felt his heart swell.

Now he stood before the sheriff's office as he debated whether or not to enter the building. As it was rather warm outside, he decided that he was going to enter in about ten seconds.

Taking a deep breath, Jane pulled out his cell phone when he feels it vibrate inside his breast pocket. Glancing at the caller I.D., Jane smiled and flipped open the phone.

"Hey Lisbon."

 _"Hey,"_ she started blandly, _"So, you might be right about the case. Might be. Thanks for the insight."_

He smiled into the phone. "Are you asking me to come back, Teresa?" he asked, as he entered the building and momentarily revelled in the sensation of air conditioning hitting his heated body.

She was silent for some time. _"No, did I say that? I'm acknowledging the fact that you might be right, that's all. I mean, if you wanted to come back, I couldn't stop you."_

"You really are asking me to come back, aren't you?" he said in a teasing tone.

Lisbon sighed. _"Yeah, fine, I'm asking you to come back."_

Taking a couple of steps forward, Jane's smile grew a bit larger. "Why?"

_"Because…because you are useful to the team."_

Jane had to swallow down a chuckle as he neared the team's working area. It wouldn't due for her to know just yet where he was. "Say please, Teresa."

_"No!"_

He could hear her clearly from where she was behind the makeshift shelves. It was quite amusing to him.

_"No, I won't say please, go screw yourself!"_

Watching as she hung up forcefully on him and slammed the phone on the table, he heard her mutter "jackass," as she continued to work on her paperwork. Taking a moment to compose himself, Jane stowed away his cell phone back into his breast pocket and slowly entered the temporary office space they occupied for the duration of their time in Palm Springs.

There was a young redheaded woman currently going through files on the opposite side of the room. Setting the files down, the woman walked past him and took a small momentary glance at him.

"Good morning," he told her.

She paused and turned to look at him, her hazel eyes wide with confusion. Ah, the rookie. "Can I help you?" she asked.

Smiling, Jane held out his hand to her. "You must be Van Pelt. A pleasure." He took her hand in his and shook it. "Patrick Jane."

Recognition flashed before her features and she smiled a bright, beautiful smile. "Oh, hi! Glad to finally meet you! Agent Cho said you'd left town!"

Jane pulled his hand back and looked around the room, a smile still on his face. "No. Nowhere to go."

"Okay," she said as she looked around. "Uh, do you want that desk over there or this one?" she asked, pointing to the different desks. "I mean, that one gets more light."

Smiling again at the cheeriness of the rookie, Jane turned to look at her. "That one. More light, by all means."

Van Pelt's smile only grew as she walked away. Jane, with a small grin still evident on his features, brushed past Lisbon's temporary desk. "A very pleasant addition to the Serious Crimes family," he told her.

Lisbon looked up. "Oh, hi. When did you get here?"

~O~

Placing the toothbrush the hotel gave her down on the counter, Lisbon spat out the toothpaste from her mouth. With a sigh, she reached down and drank down the lukewarm water and proceeded to do the same as she did with the paste.

It was finally time for her, and the team, to wind down after a long day. She hoped that they could all be on their way tomorrow and that she'd be able to tuck her daughter into bed.

Making her way back into the main portion of her room, Lisbon pulled out her Cub's tee shirt and laid it down on the bed. She reached down to grasp at the hem of her blouse when she heard footsteps echo through the hall, followed by a door slamming, and more footsteps. Frantic footsteps, if she wanted to be more precise.

Furrowing her brow, Lisbon pushed the hem back down and grasped the handle to peek out into the hallway. Her heart quickened at the sight of Jane going around a corner and she instantly walked back into her room to grab her sidearm from its position beside her sleeping shirt.

Lisbon took off after Jane, running as fast as she could in hopes he didn't do anything stupid. She carefully ran down the stairs, skipping the last two once she got down towards the bottom. Bursting through the double doors that led outside, she stopped.

He was standing in the parking lot, his shirt undone and his waistcoat askew as his eyes chased around for a phantom of some sort. Lisbon let her sidearm rest against her thigh as she slowly made her way up to the wild-looking man.

"Jane," she started as she came up to stand beside him.

When he didn't answer her, Lisbon lifted her hand and placed it on his bicep. Instantly, he flinched backwards and gazed at her.

"I lost him," he said.

She looked over his shoulder, curious as to what he was saying. "Lost who?"

"We, we need to get back to my room."

What?

Looking at him strangely, she watched as Jane's eyes continued to search around the parking lot and not realising what his statement insinuated. "He left a note and we need to look at it," he said.

Having a better understanding, Lisbon put her hand on his upper arm once more. He didn't flinch this time and he let her tug him towards the hotel once more. Though, the entire time as he panted beside her, his eyes danced around in the darkness.

The people at the front desk didn't take too kindly to her walking around the lobby with a firearm. Especially because she looked like she was dragging Jane hostage-style.

When she dropped him off in his room, she left temporarily to call the rest of the team. Within the next five minutes, Cho, Van Pelt, and Rigsby entered Jane's room, clad in their sleepwear. They all gathered around the note and Van Pelt was the one who reached down to read it.

_"Greetings old friend, it's been a while. I hope you are keeping well. I am thriving and happy. I have twelve wives now and will soon be courting number thirteen. Why can't you catch me? You must feel so powerless and stupid and sad. Oh well. All the best, Red John."_

Cho crossed his strong arms over his chest. "That sounds like the real deal."

"Sounds like Red John, but it's not." Jane got up from his bed. "Red John wouldn't risk capture just to taunt me."

Rigsby looked around the room, confused. "So, the real killer is trying to throw us off track?"

Looking around the room, Lisbon took a step forward closer to her team. "Cho, find out where Price Randolph was half an hour ago. Rigsby, I want you to check the hotel security cameras." She looked over at Van Pelt and gestured at the note. "Get those over to forensics."

Nodding, her team abruptly left the room, leaving her alone with Jane. She watched as the man settled back down on his bed, eyes drifting off into space. Concern for the man bubbled up in the pit of her stomach.

Taking a step closer, Lisbon took a good glance at him. "You okay?" she asked.

He nodded. "Absolutely."

Liar, she thought.

"Get some sleep," she told him before she started to leave.

"Uh, Teresa?"

Lisbon paused, her hand was hovering over the doorknob at the sound of his voice. She chewed on her bottom lip, but refused to turn around and look at him. "Yeah, Jane?"

"I'm sorry," he told her.

~O~

Hugs made a person feel good, unless they were claustrophobic. Humans liked physical contact, humans are physical beings, and therefore humans liked physical contact. Jane liked hugs for their closeness to the rest of humanity, but he also found them to be a powerful manipulation and stunning tool. That was exactly why he found it so simple to lift the key of off Doctor Wagner.

Doctor Wagner had not expected him to return into the building, therefore stunning the man and manipulating him to his desires. When he had walked in, Doctor Wagner was tearing apart Gregory Tannen's office in search of a diary that he had planted beforehand. Though, what he did not expect was for Doctor Wagner to be carrying a firearm and pointing it in his general direction.

He just thanked whoever deity was present that moment that he got out of there unscathed.

Lisbon had been furious when she initially found out what stunt he had coerced Rigsby into doing along with him. Then Rigsby, and the rest of the team, had been furious when he had figured out the killer in the very beginning and neglected to share the information with them.

Do I have to do everything, he mused.

"Mister Jane?" His attention was turned back to the small child that lay in her bed. "Will you tell me story tonight?"

Smiling, Jane grasped the ends of the duvet and pulled it up tighter to the girl's chin. "No, Rosie, not tonight. Didn't your mother tell you one?" he teased.

Rosie pouted. "But I want you to tell me a story!"

Leaning forward, he swept a lock of hair behind her hair and pressed a soft kiss to her forehead. He took a moment then to inhale the sweet scent of Rosie's shampoo. She smelled of apples.

"Not tonight, sweetheart. But I will tell you this."

Rosie's eyes opened wide, happy to see that the man before her was going to share something with her. He had to brace himself, now. The words he was just about to speak were fresh in his mind, as he knew they always would be. Though, he knew it would be difficult for him to say. "You are safe," he started, his eyes flickering to the dark figure leaning against the wall outside the door.

"You are loved." He felt tears begin to prick up in the corners of his eyes. "And you are wise."

Furrowing her little brows, Rosie thought about what he had just told her. "I am safe, I am loved, and I am wise," she recited back.

Jane nodded, and tried to keep the tears from falling down his cheeks. He knew that he would have to leave Lisbon's apartment quickly. "Yes, very good, Rosie."

She beamed up at him and reached for him. Leaning down once more, he let her press a little kiss on his slightly stubbled cheek before pulling away.

"Good-night, Mister Jane."

Nodding again, Jane whispered a soft goodnight and reached to turn off the light closest to her bed. He then got up and left the room, taking a single momentary glance back at his daughter.

Leaving the room, he slowly pulled the door closed until it was open just a crack. Lisbon was leaning against the door, her arms crossed over her chest as she gazed up at him. She didn't say anything to him, and for that he was thankful. He muttered a quick goodnight to her before he swiftly left her apartment.

It wasn't until he was in the confines of his car until he leaned against the steering wheel and let the tears flow down his cheeks. That night he drove back to Malibu, spending the six hours staring aimlessly before him. He then spent the remainder of the night and morning lying on a twin mattress beneath a fading red smiley face with dried tears on his cheeks.


	5. Chapter Five

**Disclaimer: I do not own The Mentalist or quite a few of the lines written (as quotes) in this chapter.**

Chapter Five

**September 26, 2008**

_Bang, bang,_ a life was taken.

 _Bang,_ another body had fallen to the floor in a crumpled heap.

Lisbon closed her eyes and leaned back in her desk chair, she slowly counted to ten backwards. On the twenty-sixth of September, she had killed for the first time. And it hadn't been just one, but two. A husband and wife, who died believing that their twisted viewpoints were a perfectly fine way of living.

She had acted out of instinct, due to the fact that she saw a helpless woman bound before her eyes. Jane was there, too, which was something else that had caused her heart to lurch when she noted that he was alone (pretty much) in a motel room with two killers.

"They are together in their own way, you know," a voice said, jarring her out of her thoughts.

She turned to her doorway, where a figure stood leaning against the frame. Lisbon knew it was Jane, because he was the only one that would brave talking to her after what had happened earlier.

Watching Jane step further into the room, Lisbon turned her eyes away from him. She didn't want him to look into her eyes.

"Thank you for saving me," he told her.

Lisbon nodded numbly and reached for a pen. She wanted to appear as if she was actually doing something at her desk rather than staring off into space, like she was. Jane saw through it, of course, and she prayed that he wouldn't acknowledge it.

From the corner of her eye, Lisbon saw Jane shift around almost uneasily. "You should go home. Back to Rosie."

She looked over at him then, and she saw pain in his eyes. Lisbon didn't know why he was feeling any sort of pain, but she figured it had to do with Rosie. He hadn't been around since he tucked the little girl into bed about a week ago, not that she minded.

Looking away, she fiddled with her pen before setting it aside. Lisbon tried to keep her eyes away from Jane's, for she didn't want him to even see a semblance of vulnerability in her – not that there was any, of course.

"Come to dinner with me, at least."

Her eyes flickered up to him. "No," she said, "I have work to do."

Lisbon knew that his eyes were on her, so she tried to avert his gaze the best way she could. He was studying her, she knew, and it was unnerving her. She was adjusting her position in her seat.

"Come on, surely you could not just this once forget what happened?"

When his words left his mouth, Lisbon stiffened, but refused to look at him. He continued, "five years ago, Teresa."

She stiffened even further and braved a glance up to his impassive face. Frowning at him, she picked up her pencil again and fiddled with it once more.

"I can't, _Jane_."

He recoiled a bit once the words left her mouth, especially with an emphasis on his surname. The one notion that unnerved her just a bit was how he was still looking at her, but with an intensity that would have been sending shivers down her spine if his words hadn't just caused upset within her.

"You left." She set her pencil aside and stood. "You left and led us all to believe that something bad happened to you."

He narrowed his eyes. "Something bad did happen to me."

"Nah, I am not talking about that!" Her voice was raised just a little. "I'm talking about how you just left without saying anything. How you led us to believe that you had died or something along the lines of that," she spat.

"You're talking about you, aren't you?" Jane took a step closer to her until the desk between them only separated them. "You're just angry that I left you after our brief reconciliation."

He moved around the desk, her eyes followed his every step, so that there was nothing physically in between them. Sure, they had had tense moments between the two of them since he was hired with the CBI, but nothing like this. This was truly the first time she ever had wanted to kill him with any object she could get her hands on. Of course the man annoyed her daily, he was the bane of her existence, but that was part of the way he did his job. She'd come to accept that long ago, but now he was bringing forth old wounds that she preferred to stay out of the CBI.

"And that is why you do not like me around Rosie."

That was it.

The anger his initial words had ignited had only grown and she found pulled her arm back before rushing it forward until her closed hand came into contact with his jaw. Jane's head flew back and his hand moved up in a way to assess the damage done to his body. He took a couple of steps back as he evaluated his jaw, his gaze moving back to her.

She was breathing heavily and she tried her best to regulate it. "Go home, Jane," she told him. "You shouldn't be here, either." She was failing quite miserably at breathing regularly.

He had shot her a look of disdain as soon as the word home had left her lips, and for a moment she had felt a semblance of guilt for it. However, that guilt was squelched when she remembered that he was the reason why she wasn't breathing right, why she was pissed off. Patrick Jane was also, in a few ways, a reason why her life had changed so drastically as soon as she had moved to Sacramento.

"Goodnight, Lisbon," he said to her.

And with that, Patrick Jane turned and left her office without another word, and Teresa Lisbon found herself alone.

~O~

Jane thought it was safe to say that his jaw ached like no other. He blamed himself, of course, but he had to go that distance to confirm his suspicion.

From the moment Jane had started working with Lisbon nearly a year ago, she had been trying to keep a large distance between them. Of course, he knew this was greatly influenced by Rosie, but he also knew that there was something much deeper than what he had previously thought. His sudden departure all those years ago had hurt her more than he had thought (and anticipated). He had thought about it from time to time these last several months, but he had previously felt no suggestion that Lisbon was upset due to his time away from Sacramento.

He should had seen it much earlier, and all his previous notions of how she felt toward his disappearance were squelched when he recalled that she never said those three little words during their last passionate encounter, unlike him.

Entering the little kitchenette within the CBI, Jane rooted around the freezer for an ice pack. Successfully, he encountered one that was presumably from Rigsby's lunch. Though, he did not care where it came from as long as it nullified the sharp throbbing of his jaw.

He pressed the pack against his jaw and he leaned against the counter. His teeth clenched and he hissed as the coldness seeped into his flesh and rendered it numb. He welcomed the numbness, as it took away his pain for a few brief moments.

Pulling the ice pack away from his jaw, Jane saw a bit of movement from the corner of his eye. His eyes flickered in the direction and watched as Lisbon, clutching onto her briefcase, made her way toward the elevator. For a brief moment, Jane thought about going after her, but decided against it. She had made it clear as day that she wanted to be alone, and he would grant her that wish at the moment.

Jane watched the elevator doors close in front of her, all the while moving the ice pack back to his sore face. Once again he winced but he had found his eyes being caught by another pair. Lisbon stared back at him, even if it were for a brief moment, as the doors closed fully. She would be all right, he deduced.

**October 13-16, 2008**

Lisbon sat up from her recliner and looked around. It was morning, finally, and she found herself stretching upwards toward the ceiling. Clasping her hands together above her head, Lisbon straightened out her spine and moved to stand.

Upon standing, she stepped on the thermometer and bottle of children's cold medicine. Sighing, she brushed the offending bits on the floor away with her big toe and made her way over to the couch, where her young daughter lay fast asleep.

Rosie grew sick early the day before, prompting Lisbon to take the day off of work to tend to her ill daughter. As soon as the words "I need to take a personal day" left her lips, Jane had immediately started offering to help with her daughter. Of course, as usual, she declined his help and rushed home to dismiss Missus Norris.

Leaning over her child and smoothing back her hair, Lisbon pressed a soft kiss to Rosie's forehead. The little girl winced and sniffled in her sleep, obviously not ready to wake up.

When Lisbon pulled away, she stiffened at the sudden sound of her cell phone chirping to life from the coffee table, and Rosie awakened immediately afterwards. Cursing under her breath, just below Rosie's hearing range, Lisbon reached for her phone and walked toward her kitchen. A quick glance to the caller I.D. was all she needed to know.

"Lisbon," she said into the phone.

_"Lisbon, good morning, how is Rosie today?"_

Minelli had been concerned when Lisbon mentioned that her daughter was ill, and it warmed her heart just a little bit that he was inquiring about her health. "She's doing better than yesterday."

_"Good, good. I'm sorry to bother you, Agent, but you've got a case."_

Lisbon inwardly groaned.

 _"Two girls went missing in Redwood Forest last night."_ Lisbon opened her mouth and was about to protest, seeing as the serious crimes unit tended to murders more so than missing persons. _"And it's a suspected murder, Lisbon."_

Her shoulders slumped down and she knew that Minelli had her.

~O~

Jane hated when Lisbon was tense, especially in the morning. He had learned almost immediately that when Lisbon tended to be a bit testy it meant that something was amuck with Rosie (he discovered this when the little girl had a nasty stomach bug and then an ear infection), and it was usually in correlation with the girl's health.

"Just to be clear, except in special circumstances, we don't 'help out'. We take over, and you need to be okay with that."

He cringed when he heard those words escape from Lisbon's mouth. Now he was given the impression that Lisbon had had to forfeit her morning cup of coffee along with the majority of her sleep.

"O-kay, I guess," said Redwood Point's sheriff as he reached for the crime scene tape.

Pausing, Jane looked at the sheriff carefully. "Uh, sorry about that. She's not really a morning person. She'll improve."

Sheriff Nelson eyed him warily and nodded, likely wishing that the petite agent would indeed lighten up as the morning continued on. Jane gave the man one last smile before he ducked underneath the tape and approached the old Volkswagen Rabbit.

"Names of the missing women?" Lisbon asked whilst snapping on a pair of gloves.

"Nicole Gilbert and Cara Palmer." The sheriff approached the car, looking over at it carefully. "Local girls, both twenty-one. They worked together at a hunting store in town."

Jane glanced into the car and saw blood spattered on the dash and flooring. "Last night was Nicole's engagement party," the sheriff continued.

Jane looked back at Lisbon, who glanced from the car to the man giving her the details. "The car was found exactly like this?" she asked.

"Yep, well no. The door was opened just like that, but we popped the trunk."

Lisbon reached down and started to fiddle with the key in the ignition. Nothing happened, as Jane expected, seeing as the key looked as if the car had been on for quite some time. The battery was dead.

"There are different tire tracks here," Cho started as he kneeled down on the ground. "Big SUV, it looks like."

Examining the tire prints, Lisbon cocked her head to the side. To Jane, the tracks appeared newly made. "They're still fresh. Must be from the trucker who called in the car." Lisbon kneeled down alongside Cho. "Make sure forensics gets a mould."

Jane took a step forward and crossed his arms tightly behind his back. He was about to take a step around the tire prints when a bloodhound rushed forward, nose pressed against the dirt.

He looked up at the man handling the dog. "What's going on with your dog?"

The police officer shook his head. "Oh, he's confused somehow. His behaviour…he's sayin' 'hey look, here they are! Give me my slim jim already.'"

The sheriff whirled around on the, who Jane assumed to be a junior officer, and furrowed his brow. "Parker, do you have a better dog close by?"

Jane glanced around. There was nothing wrong with the bloodhound, more so his handler, as he was not listening to the dog's body language that the dog had in fact done his job. The dog had been circling around the car, and Jane would bet all the tea in his cupboard back at headquarters that these men did not look under the car.

"No, sir." The junior officer, Parker, glanced down at his dog. "Come on, Dexter, people are waitin' on us."

"Did you look under the car?" Jane asked.

Everyone turned to look at him and the Nelson's eyebrows rose quite a bit. "Under the car?" he asked.

Jane nodded, "Yeah."

"Of course we looked under the car."

Jane took in a breath and looked over at Parker, who was exchanging a rather dumb look with the sheriff. Nelson's expression fell almost immediately when he realised that his men had, in fact, neglected to check underneath the Rabbit.

Cho and Lisbon exchanged a look before they made their way over to the car and bent down to take a look. The sheriff, catching the mistake, moved back over to the car. Jane moved along with them until he stood beside the car and looked down.

"One or two?"

"One," Cho answered.

"It's Cara Palmer."

Jane straightened up and began to walk away, and he looked around the dense forest, his eyes locking onto Lisbon's. "So…where's Nicole Gilbert?"

An excellent question indeed.

~O~

Nicole Gilbert was found in a small general store, drinking PowerAde and wielding a bloody knife. As soon as the shop owner had identified her, he had not only called an ambulance but the police as well. It had been imperative that she (and Jane) be present at the hospital to speak to her if possible. Of course, the sheriff had gotten a hold of this information as well.

The wait in the hospital was long and tedious.

Gripping her Blackberry tighter in the palm of her hand, Lisbon slipped the little device back into her pocket. She had just ended a call with Missus Norris, who had called to tell her that Rosie was feeling better than she had been the day before. Though it had eased some of Lisbon's previous upset, she still wanted nothing more than to be home with her ill daughter.

Jane sat in a hospital chair, fingers folded together neatly underneath his chin. He had heard the conversation, she knew, but then again he had probably known that Rosie was sick from the start of everything.

Lisbon looked down at the floor. "She's doing better."

Jane nodded. "Good," he said.

"Still a bit weak and whiney, but—."

"She's doing better," he concluded with a small smile.

Lisbon nodded and drew her lips into a thin line. She looked away from her as she saw the doctor in blue scrubs, the one that had been in and out of Nicole Gilbert's room; start to walk in her direction. He was carrying a clipboard under one arm. The sheriff, who was standing far away from Jane and she, moved closer.

"I'm Doctor Stephens, attending for Nicole Gilbert."

Lisbon pulled her jacket away to display her badge. "I'm Agent Teresa Lisbon and this is Patrick Jane." She gestured to the man in question, who had just come to stand beside her.

"Hi," he said.

Sheriff Nelson reached forward and shook his hand, introducing himself.

"She had a nasty blow to her head, a minor concussion," the doctor paused, "and her feet are mildly abraded. She has a lot of minor scratches and bruises, and mild hypothermia. Physically, she'll be fine in a day or so, mentally…it's another story."

Lisbon stopped outside of Nicole Gilbert's hospital room and watched her through the window as an attending nurse checked her over. She felt sorry for the girl.

"When you brought her in, she was in some sort of psychotic state. We've medicated her to take the edge off of that, but she's still in deep shock. She has no memory at all of the events that brought her here," the doctor continued.

The sheriff looked through the window at her also. "That's convenient," he said sharply as Lisbon turned to fix him with a glare. "If I'd just stabbed my best friend to death, I'd want to forget, too. As soon as she's well enough, I'm charging her and taking her to jail."

Lisbon squared her shoulders back when she saw the sheriff look down at her as if he had all the authority in the world.

"Sheriff, you have custody of Nicole, but the CBI's leading this investigation. I decide when to file charges, we don't have all the facts yet."

"Facts? She's covered in blood; she's carrying what looks to be the murder weapon, which the forensic guys say has Cara's blood on it. What more do you want?"

Rolling her eyes, she looked away from the taller man. "Is she well enough to speak to?" Lisbon asked the doctor.

"As long as you're gentle with her," the man concluded.

He knew that Lisbon always got angry whenever he went on 'a walk' during a case, especially when it had something to do with a person in relation to the murder victim.

This 'walk' brought him to the hospital, the one where Nicole Gilbert was receiving treatment. He was seated by her bedside, waiting for any sign that she would shortly awaken from the slight doze she was in.

When her eyes began to open and when she turned her head towards him, he smiled softly. "How are you doing?" he asked.

Nicole swallowed. "People are saying that I killed Cara, that's why there's a policeman outside. So I don't escape."

"Hmm, did you? Kill Cara?"

She frowned, a crease appearing between her eyebrows. "I don't know. I don't think I did." She looked over at him. "Do you think I did?"

He shook his head, "No. Why would you kill Cara?"

Nicole glanced away and sighed. "Yeah, why would I kill her? But the thing is…I don't know. I don't think I did, but…I don't know."

"HEY!"

At the sound of a voice, Jane watched Nicole's eyes widen.

"HEY, WHERE YOU GOIN'?"

Nicole sat up in her hospital bed, eyes aimed warily through the window to see if she could get a glance at whoever was trying to get into her hospital room.

"GET YOUR HANDS OFF OF ME!"

Nicole gasped and Jane slowly moved to open the door. He poked his head out the door, seeing two police officers shove a young man into a nearby wall with his arms behind his back.

"Just take it down a notch," the younger police officer with glasses said to the man.

"Uh, what's going on?" Jane asked the trio.

"He was trying to sneak in and see her," the elder said.

"I-I was tryin' to see my girl, all right? I was just walkin' through!"

Ah, Nicole's fiancée.

"Nobody's allowed to see her right now," Jane told the men with a slight nod of his head.

With that, Jane reached down and grasped a hold of the doorknob and started to pull it closed. Pausing, he glanced over at Nicole, who sat up in her bed with frightened eyes. Jane watched the men leave before re-entering Nicole's room, shutting the door behind him.

"Wow."

"Are they gone?" she asked.

He nodded, "yes."

"I-I'm not ready to see anyone yet," she stammered, her eyes still wide.

Jane took a step closer to her bed, eyeing glancing over her briefly. "You okay? Do you need me to get the nurse?" He made a gesture to the door in the general direction of the nurse's station.

"No! No, no! Don't leave me alone!"

Nicole's alarm returned at a full force and she made a move as if she were about to sit up straight in her bed again. To appease her, Jane softly said, "I won't."

From his words, Nicole relaxed down onto her bed. Her eyes remained fixed onto the window.

"What was it that scared you just now, Nicole?" he asked as he turned around to face her.

Nicole took in a deep breath. "I-I don't know," she breathed heavily. "I'm sorry," she said.

"It's…okay. It's not your fault," he told her in an attempt to calm her breathing as if talking to a child.

He moved to sit in the purple hospital chair beside her, where he knew he would be for the next few hours. He needed to think of a way to get Nicole out of the hospital, and he needed to do so without getting Lisbon involved for he would never hear the end of it.

~O~

Jane was truly awful at remembering to keep his hands off of the evidence, Lisbon mused to herself as she sat beside Rigsby and watched the tavern (and Farnes) where Cara and Nicole had the party two nights ago. The car smelled of fast food, courtesy of the ever-hungry Rigsby. All she had needed to prepare for this stakeout was a hot cup of coffee and a quick call to Missus Norris (without Rigsby being able to hear). The larger man, however, needed a double hamburger with french fries and a soda.

Soon enough, Rigsby was searching through the car in hopes of finding something to nosh on, every compartment opening bringing hope to his eyes. Honestly, the man already had had enough earlier.

"There's nothing left to eat." Lisbon couldn't help but smile at his determination. "You cleaned us out this morning."

Rigsby leaned back in his seat and searched the backseat, a smile growing on his face as he held up a packet of ketchup. Lisbon grimaced at him, plain ketchup was gross, she thought.

Trying to zone out Rigsby's slurping noises, she turned to listen to the crickets chirping outside. Along with the crickets, she heard the rushing sound of traffic that sounded almost like…water. Nicole Gilbert thought she had been near water, she had said that.

"Listen," she leaned forward in her seat and Rigsby stopped sucking on the ketchup packet.

"Cars?"

"The flow of them, it's like a hum. What if Nicole didn't hear water that night? What if it was the flow of traffic?"

Rigsby's eyes opened in alarm. "We should have been searching cabins on this side of town, near the highway."

"We'll split up. I'll get a ranger to come and get me and search the likely spots. You stay here," she said as she reached for her cell phone and dialled for the ranger.

The ranger was to come and get her in fifteen minutes, she told Rigsby. Nodding, the man resumed his slurping and watching of the tavern. Lisbon drank the last of her coffee until the ranger showed up. She knew the temperature was going down up here and she wanted the warm liquid in her belly.

She had seen the man earlier yesterday when she and the team had first arrived on the scene. He was taller than she and wore glasses.

After a reintroduction, she set off with him and started toward the nearby cabins. They searched and as they were moving on to their third, Lisbon's phone went off. She recognised the number as the sheriff's, which meant that he had either found something or…Jane pulled a stupid stunt. God she hoped it wasn't a stupid stunt.

_"Agent Lisbon! Your man just kidnapped Nicole Gilbert from the hospital!"_

"Oh no."

It had to be another stupid stunt.

_"Oh yes! And I'm not happy! In fact, I'm mad as hell! You people are my guest, you can't come in here and abduct my suspects!"_

"Sheriff, I will fix this. Let me get on it right away." She pressed a button on her Blackberry and held her phone tightly in her palm. "Son of a bitch," she said aloud.

"What's up?" the ranger asked.

"Personnel issues," she said as she started dialling another quite familiar number. And held it to her ear. "Pick up your phone, dammit!"

The phone rang for a few seconds before it stopped and she and the ranger reached the door to the cabin. He unlocked the door and stepped in, his flashlight shining into the spacious (and dusty) cabin. Lisbon entered behind him, noting that the cabin did nothing to the colder air.

"It's cold up here at night, huh?" Lisbon pulled her jacket closer and clutched her flashlight tighter.

"Yeah, and boiling during the day. Best of both worlds," the ranger said.

Lisbon felt her sinuses flare up because of the cold and dust mixture. Though, she suspected that her head faintly hurt because of the ranger's pineapple-scented air freshener. She wished that she had thought of this lead much earlier in the day, even though she could take the cold. Something about this place gave her the creeps.

Her cell phone rang again, and she hoped that it wasn't the sheriff saying that Jane had done another stupid stunt. Pulling the device out of her pocket, she glanced at the caller I.D.

**PATRICK JANE**

She pressed the green button and held it to her ear. "Where the hell are you?" she hissed.

 _"Nicole remembered everything,"_ he said. _"She can describe the suspect."_

Lisbon shone her flashlight on a door and kicked it open with her foot. It creaked just a little.

_"He's a tall, well-built man with brown hair and glasses. Mid-thirties."_

"That's it?" she glanced over at the glasses-wearing ranger. "That describes half of the men in California!"

_"Yeah, that's it. But at least we know that it wasn't her that killed Cara. And it wasn't Farnes."_

"Nice work, for this you illegally abduct her from the sheriff's custody?"

_"Yeah…I-I was going to tell you about it, but I figured that seeing it's illegal that it would be better to keep you out of it so that you have deniability."_

"Oh, how considerate of you. Listen to me carefully and do exactly as I tell you. Take her back to the hospital right now and sincerely apologise to Sheriff Nelson."

Ending the call, Lisbon turned back to the ranger, her flashlight slipping over him briefly.

"Wow, what was all that about?"

"My bad karma," she said as she walked past him.

They fell in step with each other, tension rising in the cabin. "How's she doing anyway?"

"Who?" she glanced to look at the ranger, who was looking down at her rather oddly.

"The girl, Nicole. How's she holding up?"

Lisbon turned away and fixed her gaze on the bit of broken wooden bits in front of her. "Okay, considering."

"She remember anything yet?"

"We're doing what we can."

"Good."

Lisbon felt like they had soon finished searching the cabin and found nothing. At this point, she was cold, tired, and her sinuses made her feel dizzy. She wanted nothing more than to return home and take a hot bath following some quiet time with her daughter. She couldn't wait for this case to be over

"Is this the last place to check?" she asked as she swore that she had seen that decaying wall earlier.

"No, there's one more place."

Damn, she thought.

"Then let's go."

Her phone started to ring again, and she was sure before she even removed it from her pocket that it was Jane. She rolled her eyes when she realised that she had guessed correctly and pressed the phone to her ear.

"Hey."

_"Pineapple. He smelled like pineapple."_

"Pineapple? What the hell? Go—."

Pineapple.

The ranger had a pineapple air freshener around the rear-view mirror of his car. The ranger was also tall, well-built, in his mid-thirties, and had glasses. She was with Cara Palmer's killer.

"—Okay, good. Listen, tell Rigsby that Teresa needs his help. Me? I'm at the Eagle Pine Lodge off of Root Six." She started to feel bile rise up in her throat.

There was a bit of silence before she heard Jane's _"Okay."_

With a sinking sensation in her stomach, Lisbon pulled her phone away from her ear and stuck it in her jacket pocket. Slowly, she turned around to face the ranger, who stood on the other side of the cabin with his hand hovering over his sidearm.

"Kyle, let's stay calm and think this through."

The ranger scoffed, "Think what through?"

She took in a deep breath. "I really don't want to shoot you, but I do have to take you in for the murder of Cara Palmer. What are we going to do about that?" She unclipped her holster.

"It's not like I set out to hurt anyone," the ranger started. "I just wanted to talk to Nicole."

Lisbon furrowed her brow. "Before she ran off and got married?"

The ranger nodded. "I've noticed her around town for a long time. I didn't want her marrying that guy Jason. She's too good for him."

"Please, Kyle, I really and truly do not want to hurt you." She grasped her hand on her sidearm, finger pressed against the trigger.

"Like your chances, do you?"

Taking a deep breath, Lisbon whipped out her sidearm and aimed. At the same time, Kyle did the same and fired. Lisbon felt a bullet whizz past her ear and go through a nearby window, and at the same time she saw one of her bullets hit a dusty light fixture.

She didn't waste her time until she fell backwards behind an old piece of furniture. As soon as her body hit the floor, she knew she'd be nursing a couple of bruises the next day.

_"Uh, Lisbon?"_

When she heard Jane's voice, she shifted her firearm from her right to her left hand and began to dig through her pocket for her phone. She pulled it out as Jane called her again, this time using her first name.

"Shhh!"

 _"You all right?"_ he asked her.

"Yeah," she breathed. "Did you call Rigsby?"

_"He's on his way. Listen, I have an idea."_

Lisbon took a few deep breaths and pulled her phone away from her ear. She glanced down at it and set it on the floor. Taking a deep breath again, she pushed the phone forcefully across the floor and switched the gun back to her right hand. .

_"LISBON, BE CAREFUL!"_

Two more shots were fired from the ranger's gun and Lisbon knew he had to be out of bullets. She pushed herself up away from the floor and moved to the door, slipping out of the cabin and hoping to God that Rigsby was on the other side of the door.

"Hi, boss."

She was very relieved to see the familiar face standing before her with his gun in hand. She exchanged a breathless sigh of relief as she stood on the other side of the door, waiting for Kyle to come through and attempt to murder her. He opened the door, ready to dart out in the woods when she aimed her gun to his temple.

"Drop it!"

Kyle seemed to make a move as if he were going to try and move so that he could tap her with the gun when Rigsby cocked his gun. "Really, drop it."

"On your knees," Rigsby told him as Lisbon reached forward and took Kyle's gun out of his hands and lowered her own.

~O~

It was eleven fifty-eight when he knocked on her door the next evening. Ever since they had returned to Sacramento, Jane had gone directly back to his motel room. He did not like the fact that Lisbon had gone to investigate the cabins alone with Kyle, regardless if he was the ranger on call or not. Rigsby should have gone with her, not continued to rummage the car for food as he watched Farnes from afar. He wanted Lisbon to know this.

Lisbon answered the door in her pyjamas, her hair tied back in a low ponytail. The first thing Jane noticed was that even though she had had a child, she still looked lovely. The second was that her left arm was covered in purple marks.

"Jane," she said in surprise, though she did not look excited in the least bit.

He looked at the marks on her arm before his eyes fell upon hers. "It looks like you had a nasty fall."

She glanced down at her arm and then at him again, her fingers still holding on tight to the door. "I was avoiding the bullets."

"You should not have been alone, Teresa."

She flinched at her given name and he continued, "You should have brought Rigsby with you."

"Farnes—."

"Was an innocent creep that didn't need the CBI's attention."

Lisbon drew her lips into a thin line and looked away. "We didn't know that!" she hissed.

His eyes softened just a bit and he stepped forward. "Promise me that you will not do something of this sort again, Teresa."

She stiffened and he hoped that it was because of the slight breeze. "I'm a cop, Jane."

"And a mother. Rosie needs you alive."

Lisbon looked down at this, her grip on the door becoming tighter. Jane knew he had hit a sore spot with her, knowing that that was one of her chief reservations about not really wanting to have children. She didn't want to have a child and to only die a few years later, leaving him or her alone in the world. She knew being a cop and a single mother was not a good combination to boot.

"I know," she said softly.

"I know you do," he said as she looked back at him.

He gave her a soft smile, but he did not let the concern leave his eyes. "Goodnight, Teresa," he said to her as he turned away and moved away from her apartment.

"Goodnight," she said softly and closed the door once he was no longer in her line of sight.


	6. Six

Chapter Twenty-Four

**November 10, 2008**

It was late when she found him on the roof. Jane's shirt sleeves were rolled up to his elbows and his vest unbuttoned; his hair was a mess as he occasionally ran his fingers through it as he paced.

Lisbon leaned against the doorframe, clearing her throat to pull him from his thoughts. A soft breeze swept by as he slowly turned to face her, and her heart stopped for a couple of seconds. Jane's eyes had a tell-tale swell around them that was an angry red.

Jane immediately looked away and rubbed at his eyes in an attempt to rid his cheeks of tears. It didn't work, and Lisbon found herself leaning farther into the door frame and crossing one foot over the other.

"Jane," she started, "what's going on?"

"Nothing."

He rubbed at his eyes some more and looked over at her nervously. In response, she quirked up her brow and crossed her arms over her chest as she shifted her footing.

"Jane." Her voice was sharp and demanding, but at the same time lacked any trace of anger. Though, she would admit that she did feel a slight annoyance at his inability to admit what was going on inside his head.

Jane rolled his shoulders back and brought his eyes up to Lisbon's. He offered her a soft smile and moved past her through the door frame. "Goodnight, Teresa," he said.

Stiffening, Lisbon glanced over her shoulder as she saw Jane move through the door leading toward the stairs. She turned back until she faced forward and sighed softly before she too moved away from the door frame.

As she made it down the stairs and toward her office to pick up her briefcase, Lisbon assumed that his tears had had something to do with Kristina Frye.

~O~

It was late when Jane arrived in his motel room. Upon entering, he tossed his keys on the nearby table and stripped himself of his jacket and vest and tossed the garments aside to lie on the dresser. It had been a long and annoying case that ended in heartache. The only relief, other than being correct about the killer, was that Kristina Frye would be out of his life forever. He will never have to see her again and he found it quite exhilarating.

He flopped down on the bed, feeling some of the dust shoot up upon his impact. His eyes slipped shut and he remembered Kristina's words and he felt a surge of anger rise deep in his belly. How dare the charlatan even speak of his family, he thought. She had no right to even mention them. She didn't know—, he was pulled out of his thoughts when he heard a sharp noise pierce through the room.

Jane sat up, alert, his eyes moving toward the dresser on the other side of the room. Eager at the prospect for a distraction, Jane moved away from the bed and picked up his jacket. It took him a few moments before he found the correct pocket, and let out a smile of triumph when he held the little device in his palm.

 **TERESA LISBON** , said the caller I.D.

Jane fumbled a bit with his phone before he was able to flip it open and hold it up to his ear. "Lisbon," he said into the device.

"Mister Jane!" an excited little voice said at the other end.

At the sound of his young and living daughter's voice, Jane's hard swelled with love. He breathed in a sigh as he felt his body relax.

"Rosie…." He drifted off with a smile on his face as his daughter rambled on about her day, and he knew that all would be well tonight.

~O~

Lisbon watched her young daughter babble away on the phone and a small smile reached her lips. The past case was…weird. The very idea that a woman could talk to the dead seemed too good to be true, so she had agreed with Jane that the woman was a fraud. Though, she'd never tell him outright that she agreed with him about Kristina Frye.

Obviously, before he had left the CBI, Kristina had said something that deeply haunted the man. It was not known to see Jane with another emotion other than the little mischievous glint (and when something in relation to Red John is discovered) he got in his eye before one of his 'grand' schemes. To see him teary eyed hurt, and she was quite surprised she had felt it. Ever since he had returned to Sacramento, Lisbon tried to maintain a stoic and impassive attitude towards him. It raised question, sure, but there were hardly anyone around from his 'first round' at the CBI still working within the building. Therefore, what had previously had happened was not common knowledge.

_Thank God._

"…and then we go sit on the fairy wheel?"

Blinking, Lisbon's eyes refocused on Rosie as she sat on the edge of her bed, her little feet dangling off the sides. The little girl had a bright smile plastered on her face as she spoke to her father. Lisbon could see Jane making a promise to Rosie; no doubt he was telling her that they could ride atop a Ferris wheel.

Rosie yawned and moved away from the edge of the bed to lie down on her back. The little girl kicked her feet twice and yawned again. "A-and then we can eat candy?"

That was another thing Jane enjoyed doing; the insufferable man loved to load Rosie up on various candies and then send her back to Lisbon. And Lisbon knew the little girl had no objections because that was a rather strict rule in the Lisbon household: no candy unless for a special occasion. Lisbon didn't consider Rosie going out with Jane to be a special occasion, but the consultant seemed to feel that way.

"It's not past my bedtime, Mister Jane!" Rosie giggled into the phone.

Lisbon raised her eyebrows and moved over toward the bed to sit next to her daughter's wiggling form. She smiled and brushed a piece of hair from her daughter's face. "It is past your bedtime, sweetie."

Rosie giggled and shook her head. "No!"

Hearing Jane chuckle on the other end of the line, Lisbon felt like the job was done and that his spirits seemed lifted in comparison to earlier.

"Rosie, it's time for bed. You want to be well-rested for Missus Norris tomorrow, remember?"

Rosie shook her head in defiance and pouted.

"She said she was going to take you to the park."

_"And she may even buy you ice cream. That is, if you go to sleep."_

Lisbon rolled her eyes and took the phone from her daughter, who pouted even more until Lisbon put the phone on speaker.

"Goodnight, Mister Jane!" Rosie said.

 _"Goodnight, Rosie."_ There was a slight hesitance until he continued on. _"Goodnight, Lisbon. Sleep tight, both of you."_

"'Night, Jane." Lisbon pressed the little red button and set her phone on the nearby end table. She turned to her daughter and smiled. "Now, where were we?"

The little girl smiled and shrugged against her pillows.

"You were going to bed, like all little girls do."

Rosie nodded and shuffled further up the bed so Lisbon could pull the blankets back. The girl moved back down until she was once again on her back and comfortably against the pillows. Lisbon pulled the blankets up to Rosie's chin and smoothed her hair down once more. She bent over, pressed a kiss to her temple and cheek, before moving away.

"Goodnight, sweetie."

"Goodnight, Mommy."

~O~

**November 25, 2008**

Lisbon walked out of an observation room with her mind swimming in annoyance with all things concerning Patrick Jane. He was giving orders, yet again, to her team. It was not his right to tell suspects that they can leave the interrogation room.

"Two notes here, we already have plenty on him. One, armed assault on Cho and Van Pelt, and two, a barn full of fire accelerant."

She fell into pace beside him. Jane acknowledged her with a small tip of his head.

"Well, the armed assault was in self-defence and the accelerant was a plant." He paused and looked at her. "Only two?"

Lisbon looked down a bit. "Actually, no. Where do you get off giving orders in the first place? I say who goes and who stays, not you."

They slowed their pace as they came to stand in front of her office door. "Well, that's uh, fiery." She shot him a glare over his shoulder.

Damn the man!

"You should try it with a more forceful hand gesture, like, _I_ say who goes and who stays, not you." He practised it before her, demonstrating how she ought to have said it. Her annoyance was growing and expanding into rage and she clenched her jaw.

"I'm serious."

"So am I. If he's in here, how's the killer going to get to him?"

"He could be the killer, and even if he's not, we don't want the killer to get him."

Jane straightened. "Yes, we do. He's our bait, our tethered goat."

She internally rolled her eyebrows at the very thought of using a suspect as live bait. "And too bad if the bait gets killed?"

Jane took a small step back. "Well, yes. That's why you use goats, instead of babies and virgins in that matter." He offered her a small smile and Lisbon rolled her eyes with a sigh.

"Well, he's not a goat." She turned away from Jane and headed into her office with a dull sense of finality. She said it very weakly, she noted, therefore Jane would try to worm his way into this.

Jane poked his head in the door. "You're right, he's not actually a goat. He's goatish and deserves to suffer a little."

Lisbon sat down at her desk and rolled up forward a bit until comfortably seated. "Nobody deserves murder."

Pushing away from the door, Jane entered the office and stood before Lisbon's desk. "He helped burn Dave Martin alive out of greed."

It bothered her that Jane said it as if his crimes justified what ought to happen to him. "Jane, we're officers of the law."

He smirked a little. "You are, I don't care about the law. I care about justice. And justice says Machato deserves to suffer."

He said it so simply that it unhinged (and angered her further) a little. "That's not justice, that's vengeance."

"What's the difference?"

She took a deep breath and Cho moved into the office. "What do you want us to do with Machato, boss?"

"Let him go," she said.

Cho raised his eyebrows. "Really? Like, let him go, let him go?"

She nodded. "Really, like that."

Watching Cho's eyes shift from her to Jane, Lisbon pressed her elbows further into her desktop. "Okay," Cho said as he left the office.

Jane smiled. "Trying some reverse psychology?"

"You talk tough, maybe it's time you learned that there's consequences. If Machato gets hurt, it's on you."

He took a step back. "Fine with me."

She nodded her head and turned away as he did. When her hand closed around her computer mouse, she sensed his eyes on her and heard him sigh as he moved back into the room.

"We never discussed this." She turned away from her computer and back towards him. "Because I thought it went without saying, but when I catch Red John, I'm going to cut him open and watch him die slowly. Like he did with my wife and child."

Lisbon swallowed. In all her time of knowing Patrick Jane, she had never heard him talk as he did now. There were talks of his desire to capture the evasive Red John, but never what he wanted to do once the man was in custody.

He continued, "Now if you have a problem with that, we should talk."

"Then let's talk, because when we catch Red John, we're going to take him into custody and he's going to be tried in a court of law."

"Not if I'm still breathing," he said darkly, his expression sending a violent shiver down her spine. She did her best to mask it, but she was certain that he had noticed.

She took a deep breath. "If you try and do violence to him, I will try and stop you. If you succeed in doing violence to him, I will arrest you." Lisbon was proud that her voice did not waver.

"I understand," he nodded, his tone too light for her liking.

"I hope so."


End file.
